


like rain on sun-soaked days

by CarbonFootprint



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Merpeople, They will kiss don't worry, mer!Keith, veterinarian!Shiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-09-20 16:58:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17026569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarbonFootprint/pseuds/CarbonFootprint
Summary: After catching his breath, the fear came in all at once, swallowing up the air in Keith’s lungs and leaving him feeling like he was suffocating.What was going to happen to him? He was trapped and alone, injured to a point where he knew he couldn’t swim if he tried. The humans clearly didn’t have good intentions for him. He didn’t know if they would kill him and eat him or sell him to be gawked at and examined for the rest of his life. Either way, he was terrified, and that terror culminated into stinging in his eyes as hot tears slipped down his cold cheeks.Mom… Dad… Please find me.Keith has only ever known a peaceful life at sea with his family until he was captured by humans. Left injured and stranded on a beach, he has no choice but to put his last bits of hope into the hands of the man who finds him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO I love mer AUs please forgive my self-indulgence. It's been really hard for me to write really anything lately since my confidence has taken such a big hit in vld fandom, but I feel really inspired by this fic at least!
> 
> I commissioned a beautiful mer Keith art from Rue [ @ruebirds](https://twitter.com/ruebirds) to look how I most wanted him to look because there's a lot of merpeople species stuff like i came up with and I just wanted anyone who reads to be able to have what he looks like in your head as you read it :3c
> 
> I'll leave a bunch of background on mer species in the end notes for anyone who's confused or just wants to know my thought process but for now please enjoy this first chapter!!!
> 
> EDIT: in case the art doesn't show up right at the beginning for you, [ here's a link to it on Rue's twitter! ](https://twitter.com/ruebirds/status/1074474491126767616)

[](http://tinypic.com?ref=2czr8mh)

In his life, Keith knew of two constants: his mom and his dad. Their small family unit was all he had ever known, and all he had ever really needed. They didn’t live in any kind of community or pod with other merfolk, simply living by themselves where they could all survive and thrive together.

He knew it was because of him that they kept to themselves, and he knew it was because of them as well, but no one was ever displeased about it.

His father was of a species that inhabited reefs and sun-filled waters, plentiful with fish and often quiet, free from danger. His tail was scaled in some areas, and he didn’t have claws nor any kind of markings on his upper body. Defined by their plainness, his father’s species looked humanoid from the hips up, which was an easy defense against ever being spotted by a human from near or afar.

His mother was different; all violet hued skin, and deeper markings on her face and down her back. Her tail was smooth, tough skin, almost black in color, and a pale glow fluoresced at the ends of her fins, a way to signal others in the dark recesses of the deep ocean. That was where his mom’s friends lived: deep in the dark, but she had mated with his dad nonetheless, and he had been born.

A merman like his dad wouldn’t be able to survive the dark of the deep sea mers habitat for long, and he knew he was the reason they couldn’t live in the reefs. He looked like his dad in some ways: dark hair, pale skin, the same eyes, but the pointed nature of his ears, the violet marks scouring down his cheeks, his claws, and his tail all gave away to the fact that he didn’t really belong anywhere.

Keith knew he only belonged with his parents, and that was all he had ever known.

They kept deep enough in the ocean to where it was cold enough for him and his mom, but still enough light filtered down for him and his dad. There was plenty of fish to be eaten, plenty of caves to live in, and they seldom saw any other mer of any species. It was a quaint, quiet life, and Keith loved it.

His dad often took him closer to the surface to explore and sunbathe. His mom’s skin was too sensitive for that kind of light exposure, but he and his dad needed it. They lived in an area that was rarely ever visited by humans, and the closest human homes were far away off shore, nothing more than odd shaped shadows in the distance.

Keith had only ever seen a human once, and only from a long way away. The human had barely been more than a silhouette on the distant shore, but the thought of it being any closer had sent a spike of fear through his heart and had sent him swimming for his dad. There were stories about humans that his parents had told him, mostly old and passed down for generations, but they were never concluded with a happy ending. Humans liked to pick apart anything that was different from them, which was why mers hid themselves so well in the waters to remain relatively undiscovered by the people on the land.

After that one moment in his life, the threat of humans had barely ever been more than a second-long thought in Keith’s mind.

Life was peaceful and content and perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

There had never been any human vessels in the waters where Keith lived, but one day they were awakened in the early morning by a strange shift in the water and an alien sound coming from the distance. His mom had looked confused and on edge, but he knew by looking at his dad’s face that there was danger approaching. Growing up closer to the shore, his dad had far more experience with seeing humans so when his dad grabbed him by the shoulders, squeezed tight, and then told him to swim as far as he could away, he knew it was serious.

They had promised to meet up at home by sundown, and he watched for a brief moment as his parents shot off in different directions. His mother plunged into the dark waters of the deep ocean and his father took off towards some rocky outcroppings towards a deserted shore. They had told Keith to head in the direction of a sandbar where human ships wouldn’t be able to go and he set off without any further delay.

He didn’t know how far he had made it - not far at all when he thought about it - before something whizzed by his neck, catching against his shoulder and tearing into his skin.

He tasted blood in the water, and after a beat he realized it was _his_ blood.

He looked to the side wildly, trying to shake off the shock, a strangled gasp leaving his throat when he saw a silver spear caught in his shoulder. He gripped the rod and yanked it from his flesh before he took off again, ignoring how his shoulder thrummed with pain.

Just as he thought he was going to get away, there was another shift in the water.

Pain exploded in his side, bringing him to a dizzying halt in the water. When he looked down, there was another one of the spears embedded in his side.

The water was quickly becoming red, but he didn’t care as he jerked at the device, trying to dislodge it from his body. It barely budged as he struggled, and the slight movement he got out of it left him crying out in pain.

The spear gave a tug from the opposite end, the human controlled end, and suddenly he was being dragged towards the human vessel.

No.

 _No_.

They couldn’t take him there.  

He wondered briefly if his parents were coming, if they could smell his blood in the water and would be coming back for him. He was relatively small for a mer, but his dad was burly with strength and his mom’s tail was stronger than anything he knew. Perhaps they could take down a human vessel if the incentive was enough.

And he knew it was.

But they weren’t coming.

Something came down in the water around him, a tough mesh gathered him up with the spear still stuck in his side. He had heard of it at least. His dad told him it was called a net and humans used them to catch fish.

But now it was being used to catch him.

He tugged at the net, snagging his claws against the material to try and shred it, but it didn’t budge. It was being lifted up, closer and closer to the surface, and when he breached the water he let out a choked gasp, coughing as he forced his lungs to take in air in the absence of water. He heard exclamations from the humans on the boat as they hauled him aboard, and while he had no hopes of understanding, he could hear the delight in their voices and the raucous nature of their cheers.

He struggled as soon as his body hit the deck, thrashing in the net as the humans came closer. The blood loss and pain was disorienting him, but he knew he had to fight if he had any hope of getting away. His strength was quickly being sapped, but when a human reached for him, he had enough strength to snarl at him, his teeth clacking together as he attempted to take a chunk out of the human’s hand.

The human jumped back and some of the others laughed before they approached him again. A big human managed to pin him down as they sliced the net apart, holding his wrists and securing them together.

They reached for the spear in his side next, giving it a tug that sent pain shooting through his body. The pain was staggering, and he felt his head hit the deck of the boat, disoriented and winded from the agony. A little less then carefully, they guided the curved metal out of his side, clearly not caring when it snagged on his flesh and left him trembling and gasping in pain.

It was all too much. The shock and pain coupled with the blood loss left his head spinning as he tried to keep fighting against the net. Eventually, he couldn’t do it anymore, laying panting on the deck as his vision went hazy from the exhaustion. Seeing him tired out seemed to be the cue for when the humans took the chance to approach him.

A hand grasped his jaw, jerked his head up a little to inspect his face as other humans cut the net around him. The human holding his jaw looked back over his shoulder, barked something and waved others over before running a finger down the violet markings on his cheeks. One of the humans made a whistling sound then before they looked to inspect his tail.

Every touch made him instinctively flinch and he felt bile crawling up his throat. No one but his mother and father had ever been so close to him, much less touched him in any way. It was foreign and terrifying, and combined with how worn out he was it was too much for him to stay away for. The haze of unconsciousness creeping at the edges of his vision finally won over and he felt his eyes slipping shut into darkness.

* * *

 

When he next woke, Keith found himself in the dark. He could hear and smell the ocean, and he could feel the human ship moving so he knew they were still at sea. His hands were bound in front of him with something similar to the mesh that made up the net, and even when he jerked at the bindings and trying to tear at them with his teeth, they didn’t budge.

It hurt to move, but he managed to push himself up in the dark, nearly falling over from the pain in his shoulder a few times. Finally, he had his back against a wall to support himself, panting with the exertion it took to just get upright. He felt around blindly in the dark, and his fingers grazed something that was attached to his side where the humans had wounded him. It felt strange, but it covered the injury and he supposed that was better than having the wound exposed to the air.

After catching his breath, the fear came in all at once, swallowing up the air in Keith’s lungs and leaving him feeling like he was suffocating.

What was going to happen to him? He was trapped and _alone_ , injured to a point where he knew he couldn’t swim if he tried. The humans clearly didn’t have good intentions for him. He didn’t know if they would kill him and eat him or sell him to be gawked at and examined for the rest of his life. Either way, he was terrified, and that terror culminated into stinging in his eyes as hot tears slipped down his cold cheeks.

_Mom… Dad… Please find me._

It was likely getting late in the day and his parents would be returning home with the expectation that he would be there. He could only imagine how frantic they would be in their searching for him, but he knew they would never find him now.

After a while, the boat slowed and eventually came to a halt. He could hear the humans moving above him, their footsteps reverberating through to where he was being kept. They were coming closer, and suddenly light flooded the room as the door was opened. He flinched away from the light, bringing his bound hands up to shield his eyes.

The humans were coming into the room, talking in a frenzy, but they kept repeating something similar.

“Best watch out for the teeth.” He didn’t know what that meant, but as soon as a human came close, he was grabbed by the hair, his jaw held firm by another human as something was pushed between his teeth and strapped around his head. He couldn’t speak with the thing in his mouth, couldn’t even try to bite either. His last mode of defense was taken away so quickly, and it made him feel powerless.

It took several humans to move him, lifting him up even as he struggled and carrying him up and out of where he was kept. It was nearly sundown when they took him off the boat, setting him down on in front of their feet. There was water at both sides of the wooden planks he was laying on. It was a short fall into the water from the wood, but it was a mode of escape.

If he was fast enough, perhaps he could reach the ocean. He could sink into the water and hide, crying out until his parents heard his song and came for him.

He went for it, surging towards the water only for the humans to start shouting. They grabbed him by the arms and tail, jerking him back towards them and away from his possible salvation. He was held down until more humans came walking towards them. These humans were dressed differently, donning clean, matching clothes that had a sense of uniformity. They exchanged words with the humans that had captured him before one knelt down, giving him a hard look before nodding slowly once, then twice.

Before he knew what was happening, the human was brandishing something and then pushing the long and sharp end into his arm. He struggled, thrashing as he tried to get away from what was happening to him, but before he could realize what was done he found his strength sapped and he all but collapsed.

Blackness overcame him in mere seconds, and he welcomed it.

* * *

 

The next several days Keith spent in and out of a haze. He was transported from the docks to a new place where he was placed in a small room, his wrists attached together with metal cuffs, which in turn were attached with a length of chain to the ring they put around his neck and attached to the wall with another short length of chain. It rendered hi unable to stretch out with his arms, and with his claws, which was probably their goal. They kept his mouth strapped shut to avoid his teeth, and no matter how much he tried he couldn’t get free from the thing they fastened across his face.

He was in pain and tired and hungry, but they didn’t seem to care. They left him alone for long periods of time, coming in sometimes to inspect his injuries and look him over, and as soon as he bared his teeth at them or tried to bite when they took of the muzzle they would put him to sleep again with the instrument they had used at the docks.

Eventually, they came in with something that smelled like food. It was a strange, off-white substance that smelled kind of like fish, but certainly didn’t look like any fish Keith had ever seen before. Nevertheless, he knew he had to eat to keep his strength up so when they slid the plate of foul-smelling food over to him and took off the muzzle, he managed to get the food down, swallowing despite the terrible taste. They gave him water next, allowing him to drink only for a little while until they took it away, closing the door behind him and leaving him in the small, dank space.

Whatever was in the food started to affect him only a little while after. Chills wracked his body and he curled in on himself, shaking and panting for breath that didn’t seem to want to fill his lungs. It seemed like an eternity, but finally the feeling stopped, and he knew then that when they came with more food he would have to refuse to eat it.

As expected, they entered again a while later with more food, placing it in front of him. When they took off the muzzle, he was ready, and he snapped his teeth to the side, feeling satisfied when the human shouted in pain and the taste of blood sprang onto his tongue. The human hit him hard across the face, knocking him into the wall he was attached too, but when they advanced on him with the food, he bared his teeth, snarling for good measure.

“Hold him down,” the bitten human said, and the other one come closer to him, grabbing him by the hair and his jaw.

“We’re just tryin’ to feed you, you know,” the one holding his mouth open gritted out, a strange smile coming to his face, “Aren’t you hungry?”

Keith let out a low snarl as the other human came closer, forcing some of the foul-tasting fish into his mouth. Without wasting a second, he spat it back at them, tugging his jaw free from the other human and surging forward with his teeth bared, nearly missing the chance to sink his teeth into another hand.

“Shit!” The other human gasped, scrambling backwards away from him, “Guess he caught on faster than they thought he would…” They exchanged more words that Keith didn’t understand before they got up and left the room.

When they returned again, it was with another plate of food, but this time it didn’t smell too different from the fish Keith had at sea. It was still in a weird, mushy mess, but it smelled safe to eat. He watched them with narrowed eyes as they slid the plate of food to him through a small opening in the door, closing it again to leave him alone with his only chance at sustenance.

He ate it after waiting a little while, the hunger twisting painfully in his stomach winning in the long run. The fish tasted normal, and after a while, no other affects followed, letting him doze quietly in the cell with some food in his stomach for the first time since he had been taken.

That routine continued a few more times until a larger group of humans came for him. They gave him what he had learned was called an “injection” and he passed out again, but when he woke up he wasn’t in the room he was usually in.

Instead, Keith found that he was on a flat surface, tied down to a table, his mouth strapped into an open position as they looked over him. They inspected his injuries and stuck other _injections_ in his arms to take his blood away from him in tiny vials. They looked at his teeth, shined lights in his eyes, and prodded at his wounds, putting something on the raw flesh that burned and _burned_ and left him crying out, tears smarting in his eyes.

Eventually, they gave him the injection again, and when he woke up he was back in the first room, disoriented and weak from all the fighting and all the fear.

The routine continued in almost the same fashion. They knocked him out, took him from the room, did things to him, knocked him out, and brought him back. They fed him periodically, always keeping on the edge of being hungry and thirsty enough to try and beg, but at least they hadn’t tried to poison him again.

They started taking things from him, more than just his blood. They took bits of skin off his tail, cutting pieces off the ends of his fins, and sometimes they put him to sleep only to wake up in his room with strangely sealed cuts on his tail and stomach.

He hated this place. He was terrified of the humans, haunted by their touch on his skin, and those terrors came for him in his sleep, never letting him get even more than a few hours without waking in a cold sweat.

Keith knew it had been more than a few weeks in the place when it became harder and harder to breathe. His bronchi and lungs were able to take in air like his dad, but his dad’s lungs were a lot more adept as breathing air than his own. His mother could only surface for a few moments at a time without her gills exposed to water, and he knew he was reaching his threshold.

There was a puddle of water in the room just within reach of the chain around his neck, and he managed to haul himself over to it, using some to dampen his gills before laying on his side in a way that let him breathe in the water. It helped, but only a little. The water was dirty and every breath left him feeling sick, but it was better than being unable to breathe at all.

When they came for him again, they reacted with alarm at his state. In a rush, they were carrying him out of the room, and for the first time he could see where he was being kept. They passed by an area where he could smell the ocean and that had him perking up despite the burning pain in his lungs. A few small ships were moored to the place, and he knew if he intended on escaping, this was his way out.

He couldn’t think about that right then though. He was starving for air until he was unceremoniously dumped in a small, water-filled box. It could barely hold his entire body, but he didn’t care.

Water, albeit not the cleanest, was surrounding him, letting him finally breathe. He gasped as he heaved in long mouthfuls of water, feeling his gills fluttering as it was expelled from his body. His lungs ached from the strain of trying to breathe air when he was at his limit, but the pressure was gone from his chest. He could breathe and that was all that mattered.

The water against his skin, especially on his tail, was more than soothing. After being dried out and on land too long, his skin felt like it was crawling, dry and desperate for even a little moisture. He knew he had some humanoid mer features like his dad, but he was an oceanic being through and through. He liked going to the surface with his dad to lay in the sun for a few hours at a time, but thriving on land wasn’t something he was physically built to withstand.

The humans observed him through the clear sides of the box, and even in the water he could hear them talking. He had started picking up on human language more easily at that point. They talked about _tests_ and _surgeries_ a lot, and he was usually referred to as _specimen_ , _subject_ , or _merman_. He didn’t know what any of the words really meant in context, but he didn’t like the way the former two sounded. The tone of the words and the way they were said made him feel like a _thing_ , like an unknown creature they were going to take apart until they were satisfied.

Keith knew he couldn’t let that happen.

He knew his mom and dad were out there searching for him, and he knew he would get back to them if it killed him.

And now he knew a way out, a way back to the water.

If he could just escape and reach that place, he could swim away without them being able to find him. He just had to figure out how, and clearly he had plenty of time for that seeing as the humans seemed to have endless tests to do on him.

After a bit, he drifted off in the tank, the glass around him making him feel safer than the room he was usually kept in. Even with his hands still bound, the humans were on the other side of the glass. They couldn’t touch him, couldn’t come near him without him being able to know first. It was the safest he had felt since the morning before he was taken, and he knew he needed rest.

A shift in the water startled him awake, and Keith realized in shock that the water around him was draining. He prepared himself for the coming air, coughing as he managed to pull it into his lungs. He was better than before, but the time in the water had in no way renewed his ability to breathe air completely. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he would have to be put in the water again, and he knew that was the best strategy to build into his plan for escape.

The gave him the injection and took him back to his cell, and the cycle started up again, but something was _different_. The injection didn’t last as long as it had in the past. He was waking up earlier from the forced sleep, sometimes even when they were transporting him back to his room, sometimes when they were still cutting into him. He never let them realize he was awake though, keeping his eyes closed but his ears tuned to the sounds around him no matter what.

Keith knew if he wanted to escape, he would have to get to a point where the injection did little more than make him wince where the needle went in. Luckily for him, they started using the injection more and more, and often when he woke from it he was inside strange tunnel-like places that were making noises all around him. He picked up from their words that they were taking _pictures_ of him, making _scans_ of his body for further investigation. Humans were certainly strange, and he knew he would be satisfied with never seeing one ever again after his escape.

Sooner than the time before, Keith knew he needed to be in the water again. They humans picked up on that too, and then came for him with an injection before they carried him to the room with the tank. By the time they were carrying him past the place that connected to the ocean, Keith was awake again. He was groggy though, too groggy to swim. He knew he would need whatever was left of his strength to get away when the time came so his tolerance would have to be better than before.

As he basked in the solace of the small tank of water, pretending to be in a state of unconsciousness, he decided acting out would be the best way to get them to give him more and more of whatever was in the needle. However, that could also prompt them to do away with him sooner so he knew he had to be careful about it.

Acting out was easier than Keith thought. Evidently, the humans were pretty scared of what his teeth or claws could possibly do so they were quick to subdue him if he even as much as curled his lip back in a snarl. In only another week or two, he was only faking being put out by the injection at all. He knew he had to enact his plan before the humans caught on so he simply lay on the floor of his cell and forced himself to take ragged, desperate breaths. He knew they would see that and take him to where the water was again.

And they did.

Just as Keith had predicted, they saw him struggling to breathe and came with a needle. He easily faked his own unconsciousness, waiting as they heaved him to up carry him to the room with the tank of water.

As soon as he could smell and hear the ocean, he moved, snarling as he snapped his head to the side and bit hard into the arm of one of the humans holding him. The human let out a howl of pain and he was dropped to the floor with a dizzying thud.

Adrenaline coursed through him and he knew he had to get himself to the ocean as fast as possible. His wrists were still secured together so he used his elbows to haul himself across the floor. The humans behind him were panicking, shouting things he was sure he could try to understand if he was listening. All he cared about was getting away and getting back to the water.

“ _Get him! Get the stun gun!_ ”

Something hit him in the tail just as he was about to slid into the water, and suddenly a shock was going through him, forcing him to collapse to the ground as he shuddered, his body wracked with spasms of electricity. He thrashed his tail side to side until the thing was knocked off and he crawled the rest of the way into the ocean. The jittery feeling remained even as he put all his strength into his tail to swim away as fast as possible.

_Get away. Get away._

_Faster._

They had to be trying to follow him with their boats. Keith knew he couldn’t look back, couldn’t slow down, couldn’t turn his head to see if they were behind him. He just needed to put all his effort into getting away.

He had to put as much distance between himself and that place as possible, but eventually he couldn’t go on any longer, stopping to gasp for breath in the open ocean.

The ocean water was so familiar it made his heart ache. It didn’t hurt his chest to take it in, his gills and tail no longer dry. The water tasted clean and good unlike the water at the human _laboratory_.

He pushed himself to the surface after catching his breath, looking out over the waves to try and discern where exactly he was. He didn’t recognize this area of ocean, and as he tried to get a look at the shore in the distance, a large wave bowled into him, forcing him back down into the water with ease.

Belatedly, he realized the water was dark and choppy, swirling angrily around him in the telltale signs of a storm. He knew he had to find shelter before it hit, but before he could even start looking another wave came out of nowhere, slamming into him and forcing him deeper into the current. Everything was a blur after that.

Without the use of his hands and arms, he was about as powerful as a tree branch caught in the storm. The waves dragged him down every time he tried to swim up, and as he was pulled closer to shore the storm only served to slam him against the rocks. He felt the partially healed wound in his shoulder reopen, the taste of his own blood filling the water before he was whisked away by the storm again.

“Mom!” He finally screamed into the waves, “Dad! Please! Hel-”

The ocean didn’t care about his pleas and another wave hit him, sending him flying until his head smacked against a rock, dousing him in blackness.

* * *

 

Consciousness only brought with it pain by the next time Keith woke up. It was nearly daybreak, the sun starting to shine over the horizon after a night filled with storms at sea. He found himself lying on the sand underneath an overhang of rock from some cliffs, and from where he had washed up he could see out onto the expanse of the ocean, an ocean he couldn’t reach.

Everything hurt.

His head was pounding, and there was a stain of red that kept dripping into his eye from what he guessed was a deep cut put there by the storm. His blood was dyeing the sand red, stemming from his shoulder and his side, both of the wounds having reopened in the fury of the storm.

“Mom,” he rasped, coughing weakly and tasting sea water on his tongue, “Dad? H-help…” He knew calling out was futile. His parents weren’t coming. No one would help him. Humans were evil, and his only two lifelines in the entire world were an ocean away. Still, what else could he do?

“M-mom,” he tried again, his voice ending on a sob, “Dad, _please_.” He could feel tears in his eyes and they slid down his cheeks, burning hot against his cold-shocked skin. There was nothing else to do but to try and call out to them.

His mother had taught him how to sing. Deep water mers used the lights on their tails and the deep reverberations of their vocal chords to signal to one another. Every deep ocean mer had their own song, and he knew if his parents heard his they would come for him.

As tired as he was, Keith managed to get the song going, humming out a low, mellow sound he knew his mother would recognize in a heartbeat. It was all he had left – the only thing that could save him, but even in his own heart it felt like a waste.

He was going to die there on that shore, alone and in pain, and his parents would never know what happened to him.

A sob left his throat, the tears still coming down his cheeks, but he kept up the song nonetheless. He was so exhausted that he didn’t even notice the approaching footsteps, not until they were right behind him.

“Hello?” A voice came, soft and careful, and he stopped singing, blinking his eyes open in alarm, his body starting to shake with fear at just the sound of a human’s voice.

Not again. He couldn’t do it again.

He couldn’t have them near him again, touching him, torturing him. He would rather die first than let that happen again.

With as much strength as he could muster, Keith managed to look over his shoulder at the human standing there, a large man dressed in tight fitting clothes, some kind of white strings hanging from his ears. He had wide grey eyes and strangely colored hair, and the shape of his face reminded Keith of his father’s own strong jawline

The man quickly removed the white strings, hastily putting them away as he stepped a bit closer, his throat bobbing slowly as he looked over him.

There was something different about him.

He wasn’t like the people who had captured him on the boat, nor the people who had hurt him in the lab. His eyes weren’t like the others. There was a _horrified_ look in his eyes mixed with so much sadness and fury that wasn’t aimed at him, and something about that expression made its way into Keith’s heart even as he lay shaking on the sand.

“Hey there… I heard you singing,” the man whispered, his voice low and soothing but betrayed by a few quivers of shock, “I’m- I’m not going to hurt you… I’m here to help you.” He crouched low beside him, placing his hand on his chest, “I am Shiro. _Shiro_. Understand?”

Keith blinked slowly at him. Some of the words sounded familiar – he had definitely heard them before – but he was too weak to try out his meager human language skills. That word was new though: _Shiro_. The human had placed his hand on his own chest, gesturing to himself.

Shiro then. This human was a _Shiro_.

Were Shiros nice humans?

This man didn’t look at all like the others. He didn’t have a dark look in his eyes nor did he have malice in his tone. Keith could barely move, and he knew he would never be able to fight off the human if he decided to attack. He was completely at the human’s mercy, and yet the man wasn’t doing anything that made it seem like he wanted to hurt him.

The man regarded him for a long moment before he reached out, warm fingers gently stroking the violet marking on his cheek, and when he pulled back, his hand was bloody, “You’re hurt pretty bad,” the Shiro-human murmured, “I can help you.” He reached then to examine the manacles still around Keith’s wrists, a deep frown on his face. The chain between them had broken in the storm, but the rings themselves stayed secure around his wrists, as well as the one on his neck, “I’m definitely going to help you,” the man spoke again, a tender, reassuring smile on his lips.

Gently, the human reached out, pausing for a moment to look into his eyes before he touched him. Keith blinked at the human, a wordless communication that he was too weak to try and bite or claw at him. The human touched him then, managing to roll him onto his back on the sand without much excruciation. Crouching low at his side, the human slid his arms up under him and, after steadying his footing, gingerly picking him up.

Keith couldn’t fight anymore if he wanted to. He couldn’t bite nor struggle. He was too tired, too exhausted. His chest ached with every breath, his shoulder and side seared with pain, and the wound to his head made him feel as if he was about to faint any second.

“You’re okay,” the Shiro said, “I have you now. I am going to take care of you. Make you better. Understand?” The words made no sense to his tired mind, but the human’s voice sounded so gentle, so caring, and Keith knew that if this was his last and only chance, he should take it. He let his head lean against the human’s shoulder, shivering when the warmth of his body bled into his cheek, and he let his mind fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay chapter 1 owo
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! As promised here's some blather on mer people species and junk if you want to read.
>
>> Krolia: Deep sea mers have dark skin, usually blue or violet in color in varying hues. Their eyes are highly developed for seeing in the dark and have yellow sclera. Their tails are more like sharks in texture and can be smooth or sandpaper-like. They have really good hearing. Their fins have bioluminescent bacteria that glow on the ends to alert their pods to their positions. Sunlight can damage their skin and eyes with a lot of exposure and their lungs and bronchi aren’t evolved in a way that allows them to surface and breathe air. They rely on dissolved oxygen in water that is picked up through their gills, and their bodies can withstand the pressure of the deep ocean. They are a lot bigger than other mer species due to their isolation and they're basically top of the food chain down in the deep.
>> 
>> Keith's dad: Mers that live closer to the shore or near reefs are the “average” merpeople. They can have smooth or scale-y tails. They have the same variation on skintones as humans depending on where they live and how much sun they get. They need sunlight to live. They don’t have the best night vision so they usually sleep at night. Their tails can be any number of colors and patterns depending on what blends best with where they live. Most are variations on blue, green, gold/brown, but some have very bright colors like reds and pinks.  
> 
> 
> **Please leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the first chapter!** Chapter 2 will be Shiro's introduction in Shiro POV :3c
> 
> You can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com)! I love Sheith and talking about Sheith and crying about Sheith (esp after s8 lololol rip) so please come find me if you want!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!!!! I'm back with chapter 2 :3c Shiro's introduction/POV for this one as he finds a special mer Keef who he might fall in lov with (he will).
> 
> The response to chapter 1 was amazing!!! Thank you so much for people reading so far!!!!
> 
> ENJOY! <3

sirenobiology |ˈsīrənōbīˈäləjē|

noun

  1. The study of merpeople, divided into many specialized fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, origin, and distribution.



* * *

 

Growing up in a seaside town, Shiro had always known he would wind up working near the ocean. He was too accustomed to hearing the sounds of waves when he went to sleep at night and when he woke up in the morning to not live near the water. He always figured he would be a fisherman or some kind of marine environmentalist, but then merpeople were discovered to be real as the folklore and myths and fairytales had always said, and suddenly there was an entire new field of study out there to be explored.

The scientific community decided on the term sirenobiology to categorize the new field of study. Considering that merpeople had the prospective ability for sentience, there was a lot of debate on how ethical it was to study them. From the few that had been studied alive, they had the same neurobiology as a human, and if something was effectively _human_ was it really okay to study it and investigate it without expressed consent?

The debate was still on-going even after Shiro had graduated college, vet school, and became a sireno-veterinarian. He thought the title was a bit degrading; merpeople were _people_ , not animals, even if parts of their body were more like that of sharks and other fish than humans.

Still, he didn’t care. He had always wanted to help people and be by the ocean, and his lab was the epitome of that dream. When the field of sirenobiology had exploded, Shiro had noticed how more people were going into research to try and understand them, but no one was really going into their healthcare. Injured mers sometimes came to shore when they had no other choice, and treatments to help them were still incredibly underdeveloped. At his lab, Shiro had a doctoral student named Lance, and Hunk, his physician’s assistant, working with him on a number of things such as mer blood typing, antibiotic usage, and how to best create a healing environment for them. The other half of his lab was equipped with biomedical engineers doing researchers on how to adapt human medical technology for merfolk.

He had yet to use any of the collected data on a large scale, of course. There were some mers known to humans that had been placed with trackers at their consent, but it wasn’t like they hung around a lot. They generally reported to labs dedicated only to research into morphology and ecology, but Shiro had managed to get them to allowed him to do check-ups on the mers they had allied with just to get baseline vital statistics for their species. They had built up a small blood bank at that point, if it could even be called that, and piles of information collected so far, but work was slow, especially when merpeople were still so wary of humankind.

Even so, Shiro found his work very enjoyable, and it was nice to have the lab close enough to his home on the beach that he could make going to work part of his morning run. He was always an early bird, and at the start of dawn he left his house to take advantage of the cool morning air and the lack of other people around the beach.

As he was running down the path besides the more desolate areas of the beach, his body warmed by his run and the quiet sound of some sort of playlist Pidge had made for him coming through his headphones, a sound other than the waves flowed into his ears and he slowed to a jog and then came to a halt. He paused the music, blinking in surprise as he heard the sound more clearly. It was a soft, mellifluous resonance, tinged with what Shiro could discern as desperation despite it’s beauty.

He had only read about a similar sound before, and heard it from audio footage. Deep sea divers had recorded audio of merpeople songs from expeditions to the deepest parts of the ocean where species of deep sea merfolk lives. They were rarely sighted in the mesopelagic zone, keeping to the lightless depths of the bathypelagic zone, and some even sinking lower into the abyss. They had strange eyes, good enough to see in the dark with, but they relied on their hearing and the bioluminescence in their tails to get in touch with each other.

There was no way a deep sea mer could be near enough to the shore to be making that sound, right?

Curiosity got the best of him and he jogged out onto the beach, ignoring the sand that seemed to instantly worm its way into his shoes. The song got louder as he rounded the cliff side, and then he saw it.

A tail. A tail colored a deep violet, smooth and scale-less, laying limp on the sand. His breath caught in his throat, knowing that whatever was about to come into his view was something very few people had ever had the opportunity to see up close.

Shiro moved slowly, as quietly as possible as he stepped more to view the mer’s entire body, and when he could see the creature he felt his heart drop in his chest.

It was a merman, laying on his stomach on the sand, and he was hurt badly. Whatever elation had had felt before at the chance of seeing something regarded with so much wonder was gone, erased by the carnage in front of him. There was blood on the sand, stemming from a deep wound in the merman’s shoulder, and another injury that penetrated through his side. The injuries looked old from afar, but not healed well in the slightest.

And then there were the shackles. Metal cuffs secured around his wrists, and a matching collar around his neck, and Shiro knew there had yet to be proof that merpeople had anything close to modern human tools, especially not ones made of metal.

 _No_.

This was evidence of human touch, and human _hurt_ from what he could see.

His heart was a lump in his throat as he approached the merman before finally speaking, “Hello?”

The song cut off abruptly, and the merman’s injured body was suddenly shaking in what Shiro knew was fear. He could see the effort it took for the merman to pick his head up even a little, gazing at him over his shoulder with wide, terrified eyes. He had dark hair that curled around his neck with dampness, and some stuck to his forehead and cheek with blood. His eyes were a deep violet against white sclera, and they looked so _human_ , and so full of desperate, hopeless _pain_.

It broke his heart.

The merman was so _beautiful_ , unlike any mer Shiro had ever seen before, and other humans had just _left him_ in this state.

He tugged out his headphones, stuffing them messily into his pocket as he spoke again, “Hey there… I heard you singing,” he whispered, knowing full well the merman probably didn’t understand a single thing he was saying, but he kept his voice low and gentle, as kind as possible to show the creature that he wasn’t a danger, “I’m- I’m not going to hurt you,” he swallowed around the lump in his throat as he came closer, crouching down beside the injured mer, “I’m here to help you.” After a moment, he placed his hand against his chest, “I am Shiro. _Shiro_. Understand?”

Tired eyes blinked slowly at him, a slight light of understanding contained within his gaze, but the exhaustion captured there was too apparent. He was even more beautiful and strange up close. He had ears different than the merfolk Shiro had studied, and he knew ears like that were highly sensitive to sound, just what a deep sea mer would need to find food or friend. He had claws, no scales, and strange violet markings on his cheeks that continued down his back, but his eyes were so _human_.

Shiro had no idea what was laying before him in terms of speciation, but it didn’t matter in that moment. The mer needed help.

Carefully, he reached out, gently stroking the mer’s cheek, wiping blood away where it obscured the violet streak on his face. The merman didn’t flinch, only regarding him with pain-filled eyes, “You’re hurt pretty bad,” he murmured, wiping the blood off on his running shorts, “I can help you.” Slowly, he reached forward, noting the sharp claw on each of the merman’s fingers as he inspected the metal secured around his wrists. Clearly they had once bound his wrists together, but had broken apart. He could tell they had been on for a while. The skin he could see around them was pink and raw from rubbing against the metal.

It was even more infuriating the more he inspected the merman, but he kept his cool as he reached to touch the collar, “I’m definitely going to help you,” he breathed before he pulled away, giving the merman a smile.

He reached out then, pausing a breadth away from touching the merman to exchange a look with him. He hoped the merman understand he was asking for consent, and after a long moment the merman blinked, laying his head back down in the sand.

As carefully as he could, Shiro managed to get the merman onto his back, supporting his head with one hand as he gently laid him down. Then, he slid his arms up under the creature, steeling himself before he lifted the mer into his arms.

The merman was heavy, the heft of his tail no easy feat to manage, but Shiro could tell he had once been a lot more muscular. However long he had been kept by other humans, they clearly hadn’t been feeding him well enough.

“You’re okay,” Shiro murmured as he walked back around the secluded back of the beach, nearing the path he usually ran to work, “I have you now. I am going to take care of you. Make you better. Understand?” The merman looked too exhausted to even be listening to his words, but his head pressed against Shiro’s shoulder, nosing lightly at his shirt before going still. Half-lidded eyes stared up at him before they fluttered shut, leaving the merman as a dead weight in his arms.

He walked over to an area where he could set the mer down, fumbling for his phone as he quickly called for help.

“What’s up, boss?” Hunk’s voice came into the phone after only one ring, “You running late?”

“Hunk, listen to me,” Shiro said quickly, “I need you to bring our biggest van to the beach, where I usually run, about halfway to the lab, okay?”

“Uh, sure, of course,” Hunk said, and Shiro could hear movement on the other end of the line, “What’s going on?”

“Just get here. And tell Lance to start prepping the medical suite with everything we have, alright?”

“G-got it, sir,” Hunk stammered before the line went dead. He turned to the merman then, kneeling to take a look at him.

His breathing was raspy and labored, and when Shiro pressed his fingers to his neck he felt his pulse jumping erratically. His skin was pale and cold, all culminating in the beginnings of shock. The wound in his shoulder was still sluggishly oozing blood and Shiro was quick to strip off his light jacket and then his shirt. He used the shirt to wrap around the wound in the mer’s shoulder, just to try and keep it clean, and the jacket was wrapped and tied around his middle to cover the penetrating wound there.

“Who did this to you?” He whispered, gently stroking some of the merman’s dark hair back from his forehead, laying the back of his hand there to confirm that, yes, he was running a fever.

Shiro knew his priority was to get the merman stable and on the right path towards becoming well again, but he would be damned if he didn’t do his best to find out who had hurt him so badly after the fact. He knew there were people out there that didn’t care at all about merfolk wellbeing. They only cared about advancing their research and would even pay fishermen to go into legally protected waters to hunt for merpeople.

Just eyeballing the injuries this mer had sustained, he could tell something similar had likely happened to him, and whoever had kept him after that hadn’t bothered to properly treat the wounds either. As he felt his blood starting to boil, Shiro forced himself to calm down. He had to remain calm if he was going to effectively help the injured creature, and that was all he could focus on in that moment.

It only took a few minutes for Hunk to arrive, pulling up in a white van marked with their lab’s logos. He got out of the car and stopped short, his mouth agape as he watched Shiro pick the merman back up into his arms, carrying him up the beach towards the van.

“What-” Hunk squeaked, clearing his throat quickly, “What is- _that_? I- I mean, what _happened_?”

“We’ll have to figure that out,” Shiro sighed as he walked towards the van, “Right now we just have to get him back to the lab and make sure he gets the care he needs.” He trailed off, giving Hunk a solemn look he knew the other man understood. He had never seen a more damaged mer, and he had to hope they had the technology and resources to take care of him.

There were blankets in the back of the van, and he carefully placed the merman on top of one, spreading another over his body and one pillowing his head.

“I’ll stay back here. You drive,” he instructed, closing the door to the van and moving to the merman’s side.

When the van started moving abruptly, the merman winced and whimpered softly in his unconsciousness, and Shiro was quick to soothe him, gently stroking his hair, “It’s alright. You’ll be okay,” he whispered, “I’m going to take care of you. You just rest…” That seemed to calm the mer down and his expression evened. His brows were still slightly knitted in pain, but there was only so much Shiro could do for him in the back of a moving van.

It only took a few minutes to pull up to the lab, and when he opened the back doors Lance was waiting there with a stretcher. There was alarm etched into his features as Shiro beckoned him closer to help carry the merman from the van, setting him down on the soft surface of the stretcher.

After that, everything was a blur. He ordered the others to take the merman inside and get him started on fluids as he ran to his office for a change of clothes. His running shirt and jacket were still serving as the merman’s rudimentary bandages, but he always kept clothes in his office, and he opted for a pair of scrubs.

By the time he reached the medical bay, Hunk had started an IV on the merman, hooked him up to monitors to manage his vitals, and removed the clothing concealing his injuries, “How is he?” Shiro asked, his eyes scanning the monitors for the merman’s vitals.

“Not good,” Hunk frowned, “His fever is high, and from listening to his lungs I can’t rule out pneumonia. He’ll need X-rays to confirm…”

“First, we need to document his condition,” Shiro said, “Lance, can you get Matt up here with a camera, and then bring the portable X-ray from down the hall,” he asked as he approached the bed, watching the other man scurry off down the hall, “These injuries haven’t healed right... We’ll have to clean them and repair them as best we can.”

“Should we cross match his blood type?” Hunk offered, “That could help with the blood loss.”

“You can try,” Shiro frowned, “But something tells me we won’t have anything that matches him. Better to get him started on antipyretics first.”

While Hunk hooked a bag of medication up to the mer’s IV and took some blood, Matt entered the room with the camera they usually used to document mostly anything for his research, and he stopped short, staring at the merman with wide eyes as he wordlessly handed the camera over to Shiro.

“Thanks, Matt,” Shiro took up the camera, quickly beginning to snap photos of the mer; the collar, the shackles on his wrists, the large injuries and the small, stitched up cuts on his abdomen and tail, “We need to get those cuffs off of him. Can you do that?” He asked, looking towards Matt as he set the camera aside.

“Uh, y-yeah, sure,” Matt nodded, “Probably can pick the locks, keep the restraints in evidence.” He went to work after that and Shiro settled down with some antiseptic and forceps to start cleaning in the wound in the merman’s side, washing away dirt and clots of blood as he went. He could see that whatever had made the wound had torn through the flesh, and whoever had the mer in their custody hadn’t bothered to clean it or tend to it much at all.

“I got the X-ray, Shiro!” Lance said as he walked back into the room a while later with as much speed as he could, considering the heavy machine he was pushing.

“Good. Thank you, Lance,” Shiro offered a small smile, “Let’s get to work.” Matt had gotten the restraints off by then, setting them aside so they got start the X-rays. They started with a chest X-ray before they moved to take scans of the merman’s head, arms, and abdomen. Shiro wanted to make sure they got information for every place he was injured, and when Lance pulled up the scans on a computer, Shiro knew there was a lot more damage done than what met the eye.

The wound on his head hadn’t fractured his skull, which was about as good as the news got, but Hunk had been right about the pneumonia, representing itself in the cloudy, white areas in the mers lungs.

“What’s that?” Lance asked, pointing to small, bright spot on the merman’s side, “Right there… It’s metal, right?”

“Yeah,” Shiro said slowly, narrowing his eyes at the images before he turned back to the merman. Up close, he could see a small, stitched scar, and he knew from experience that it was too even and smooth to be from anything other than a blade. Quickly, he reached for something to numb the area before he took up a scalpel. It felt so _wrong_ to have to cut into the merman after everything he’d been through, but there was something foreign placed in him and Shiro knew he would be better off with it out.

Using a pair of forceps, he reached into the wound, pulling out a small microchip from where it was place inside him, “Is that… A tracking device?” Lance asked out, watching as Shiro placed the small chip in a tray and handed it over to Matt.

“You and Pidge will need to look at that in the lab,” he said, “Obviously whoever had him was tracking him should he escape, and if it’s still functional, they could be on their way here...”

“Got it,” Matt nodded, quickly taking the chip and the camera and leaving the medical bay.

The next several hours were spent tending to the merman. Shiro’s back ached from the hunched position he sat in while cleaning and attempting to repair the wound in his shoulder, but he barely felt the pain with how focused he was on the mer. Hunk returned eventually to help him along with the news that the mer’s blood didn’t come close to matching anything they had in their small blood bank as Shiro had figured. Still, there was more work to be done. He had Hunk start the mer on antibiotics for the pneumonia and stitch up the laceration on his head while he continued taking care of any other injuries he found, and by the time they were done it was nearly sundown.

“Well, he looks better,” Hunk offered giving him a smile, and the other man was right. Even with bandages wrapped around his head and abdomen, his shoulder swathed in white and his arm in a sling, the mer looked far better than when he had found him. Some rosy color had returned to his lips, and he seemed to be resting more peacefully than before.

“So uh, what kinda mer species is he?” Lance piped up, “He should be able to breathe air if he’s a deep sea species, but he shouldn’t look like _that_ if he’s like the ones we’ve seen before…”

“I don’t know, Lance,” Shiro sighed tiredly, “He could be a crossbreed.”

“There’s no way,” Lance huffed, “You might be a hot shot medical doctor, Shiro, but I’ve been writing my dissertation for two years now. Different species stay in their own groups. They don’t willingly socialize, and they literally _can’t_ socialize if you look at physiological barriers... Any mer that lives deeper than thirty-three thousand feet would have no reason to come up into the mesopelagic zone, and any mer living in the epipelagic zone wouldn’t be able to withstand how many hundreds of pounds of pressure the water exerts down there. It’s _impossible_ -”

“Hate to break it to you, Lance, but maybe you should restart your thesis,” Hunk joked, elbowing the other man in jest, “Come on. Let’s get dinner. You coming, Shiro?”

“No, I- I think I’ll stay here and order take-out,” Shiro shook his head, “Someone needs to stay with him, monitor his vitals and stuff,” he smiled.

“Call me if you need anything,” Hunk said before he waved and headed out with Lance, who was in the middle of a long whine about how there was no _way_ he could _ever_ restart his _whole_ thesis, leaving the lab quiet aside from the intermittent beeping of the heart monitor.

Shiro took a moment to breathe, practically collapsing into a seat in the lab. The day had been a whirlwind from the moment he found the merman on the beach. Finally, he seemed stable enough, but Shiro was already worried about what else could befall him.

If he truly was a crossbreed, he probably had a much lower capacity for breathing air than the merfolk he had studied before. He could tell from just preliminary examination that his gills were a lot more developed than those that lived near the surface. He would probably need to be in the water to breathe well sooner rather than later, which was worrying to say the least. His injuries needed to be kept bandaged and dry if they hoped to heal well. The tissue was already inflamed and infected in some areas, and while the antibiotics would help, the healing process would be long.

He was so deep into his thoughts that he didn’t even notice when someone else entered the room, “Earth to Shiro,” Pidge’s voice came, hushed and way too close to his ear. In what he knew was probably an amusing sight, he recoiled back, nearly falling out of his seat in the process, “ _Finally_. I’ve been calling your name you know,” the engineer huffed, leaning back against the wall, “Just came to get a look at what you found washed up on the beach,” she said, though there was sympathy in her tone, “He looks pretty bad… Think he’s going to pull through?”

“I hope so,” Shiro sighed, “You should have seen him out there… He was so desperate. He was- _singing_. That’s how I found him.”

“Really?” Pidge gaped in surprise, “Wow… That’s awesome, Shiro, getting to hear that, even with the circumstances.”

“Yeah, it was- really beautiful,” Shiro murmured before he sighed, “What’s up with the microchip we found? Did you get a look at it?”

“Yup,” Pidge nodded, “He was definitely being tracked, and not in a way that they wanted to be obvious should he have escaped. He’s lucky you of all people found him…”

“I’ll call someone from legal in the morning then,” Shiro yawned, “Can’t imagine whoever had him will go too long without looking for their- _property_.”

“Good call,” Pidge nodded, “Hey I was thinking… Matt mentioned he was- different than the merpeople we’ve studied before. I’ve actually been working on something I think might help?”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Shiro asked, quirking at eyebrow at her.

“Okay, so, get this,” Pidge grins, “It’s a non-rebreather, and oxygen mask, but instead of oxygen, it’s water, and it recycles it all too and re-oxygenates it from his gills. I developed it in case we ever met a species that couldn’t breathe air super well, you know? I haven’t had anyone to test it on though. I tried to test it on Lance and he almost- drowned.”

“An expected result,” Shiro laughed, “Maybe stick to testing things on people that can breathe in water?”

“Good call,” Pidge snorted, “But yeah, if that sounds like something that could help you, feel free to stop by my lab,” she said, “You staying here all night?”

“Probably,” Shiro smiled, “Someone needs to monitor him, and I just- I don’t want him to be alone, you know?” Pidge nodded at that, giving him a reassuring smile before she headed on back to her lab.

Once she was gone, Shiro took the initiative to actually order some take-out, eating it ravenously when it came. It dawned on him then that he hadn’t eaten since his morning protein shake and he was starving. As soon as he was finished eating, he realized that the merman was probably starving too and would need food when he woke up, which sent him on a run to a fish market that was only a few blocks down the beach.

He knew he probably looked like a crazy person arriving in rumpled scrubs with a cooler of ice when they only had five minutes before they were supposed to close, but some of the workers recognized him and gave him the rest of the day’s catch that hadn’t sold for free.

After thanking the workers profusely, and with a much heavier cooler, he ran back to the lab, setting the cooler down in the corner of the room before he made his way over to the merman. His vitals remained the same, which was good, but his fever was still high and his heart rate still skipped at a higher beat than it should.

Still, he was alive, and if Shiro had anything to do with it, he would make sure he remained alive.

Without anyone else in the lab, he allowed himself to really look at the merman up close, stroking some dark hair back and away from his forehead. He really was _beautiful_ with fine, sharp features, and though his eyes were closed, Shiro remembered their beauty from the morning, albeit shrouded with pain.

“You’re going to be okay,” he murmured into the quiet around him, “You’re going to be just fine.”

Belatedly, he realized that the merman had probably been calling out for someone on the beach, another mer who would recognize his song, and even though he knew it would probably upset the mer once he awoke, Shiro was glad he had found him first. Another mer could never have helped him through the injuries and illness he had, and if he had gone off back home with the tracking device imbedded in his side, who knows what could have befallen his friends or family when humans came looking for him.

It was better this way, but not better at the same time, and that made a strange feeling settle in Shiro’s chest as he changed the IV bags and noted the merman’s vitals once more.

At around two in the morning, the merman finally started to stir, a groan leaving his throat, which alerted Shiro to his impending wakefulness. He rushed to the merman’s side, watching cautiously as his eyelids fluttered before he finally opened them, blinking slowly at the low light of the room.

Shiro knew he only had to wait a moment before the panic ensued. Violet eyes went wide, zipping around the room quickly before they settled on Shiro’s face, and suddenly the merman was gasping, trying to sit up and get away even with his arm in a sling.

“Hey! Hey, hey, calm down, you’re okay, you’re _okay_ ,” Shiro said quickly, keeping his tone as soothing as possible, “It’s me, remember? Do you remember me? I’m _Shiro_ ,” he said slowly, “That’s my name: _Shiro_. I said I would _help_ you, remember?”

The merman stared at him with wild eyes, his chest heaving out hurried breaths as he looked him up and down. Some clarity entered his vision then and he slowly nodded, his throat bobbing once before a horrible cough left him, ragged and wet as he doubled over slightly, gasping for air.

“Let it out. You’re okay,” Shiro soothed gently, carefully placing his hand against the merman’s back, rubbing slow and comforting until the coughs subsided, “Lay back. You need to rest,” he said, coaxed the merman back to where he was laying in the bed against the slight recline. The merman stared at him as he took slow, raspy breaths, then his gaze moved slowly, taking in the room, the bandages, the IV in his arm, and then back to Shiro.

There was a question in his eyes and Shiro was quick to try and answer it, “This is my lab,” he said, and the merman’s eyes lit up slightly with recognition at the word, “I’m a doctor. I help sick merpeople, hurt merpeople,” he said, gesturing to the merman’s shoulder and side, “You are hurt. I’m trying to help you.”

Shiro didn’t know what level of human language the mer had been exposed to, but clearly he was very intelligent, his eyes wide and receptive of the words and tones being given to him. Hopefully he understood a little of what Shiro was trying to say anyway.

“Are you hungry?” Shiro asked, and that only got a look of confusion from the mer, “Um… Hungry, like-” He knew he must have looked pretty silly with his attempt at pantomiming some eating motions, but clearly the merman understood what he was trying to say, “Hungry?” He asked again to be sure, and the merman nodded slowly, but warily. Shiro didn’t even want to know what he had been given to eat in the past, but he knew the fish he had gotten at the market was as fresh as it could get for a merman stuck on land.

He moved away from the bed, fetching the cooler from the corner of the room and bringing it over to the merman’s side, “I got you a bunch of fish. I didn’t know what kinds you would like, but they were nice and gave me whatever they had left,” he said as he opened the cooler, exposing the contents to the merman.

The mer stared at the fish with wide, shocked eyes, his lips parting a little in clear surprise. He looked from the fish to Shiro’s face, his eyebrows knitting up and together in a desperate expression, and Shiro was quick to smile, “Whatever you want. It’s all for you.”

The merman seemed to still be in disbelief, but eventually he raised his good arm and pointed towards a snapper sitting on top of the fish pile, “Good choice,” Shiro smiled, picking up the fish and setting the cooler down, “Let me help you, okay?” He knew it would be hard for the mer to eat with how weak he was, and with one of his arms in a sling, so he sat at his side and pulled out a pocket knife, slicing into the fish. He handed the merman a sizeable chunk, and then watched in awe as it disappeared in mere seconds.

The fish was gone in a matter of minutes, and the merman looked satisfied, a low crooning sound leaving his throat when he was full, and he shook his head when Shiro tried to offer him more. He knew the mer probably could eat more, but with the exhaustion and the medications coursing through his system combined with the fever, that was enough to sap anyone’s appetite.

“You really are _safe_ here, okay?” Shiro said softly once he sat back in his chair, “I’m not going to hurt you.” He didn’t know if the mer understood his words, but the creature didn’t seem too frightened anymore, “I am Shiro,” he said again, pointing to his own chest, “That’s my name. _Shiro_. Do you have a name?” He asked, pointing to the merman in turn.

The mer’s brow furrowed for a long moment before he raised his hand and gestured towards him, “ _Sh-Shiro_?” He asked out softly, and Shiro couldn’t help the bright smile that he knew was on his face as he nodded. The mer’s voice was rough from his illness, but deep and melodic nonetheless, and he sounded so vulnerable as he said his name, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

And he probably hadn’t. Who else was there to speak to him? He didn’t think any humans had likely tried to communicate with him before so the fact that he was even trying with Shiro made his heart beat faster.

“Yes! That’s my name. _Shiro_ ,” he smiled, “What about you? What’s your name?”

That took a little longer to come out as the merman furrowed his brow in concentration, finally opening his mouth to utter what Shiro assumed was a word, but was rather garbled. He knew mer language probably sounded a lot more legible underwater, and if it was spoken to people who were actually fluent in it.

“That- kind of sounds like… _Keith_?” He asked out, cocking his head to the side and giving the merman a hopeful smile, “Can I call you that? Keith?” The merman looked pensive for a moment before he nodded, a quiet croon of consent leaving his lips, and Shiro couldn’t help but to smile again.

Keith was a good name, and it fit the merman well. Getting to know Keith and getting him to trust in him was a huge step towards helping him heal after all, and the sooner he healed the sooner he could be taken back to where he belonged.

“You rest now, Keith,” Shiro said gently, absently stroking across the back of Keith’s hand, “You need a lot of sleep… If you need anything, I’ll be here, okay?”

Keith blinked at him tiredly before his eyelids drooped a bit and he turned his head into the pillow, nosing into it before he went still. After a few minutes, Shiro knew he was asleep and he went to go fetch a blanket for the mer. Sleeping out in the open, with a high fever no less, was probably the most exposed and uncomfortable he could feel. A blanket could help, especially with the chills, and Shiro made sure to tuck it around him carefully to not disturb him.

When that was done, he sat back in his chair, smiling to himself at the progress made. It would be a long night, and an even longer process to rehabilitate Keith, but he didn’t care. Just getting to communicate with the beautiful merman in front of him was enough to make him feel like all the years of studying and frustration over a lack of mer contact was worth it, and he would do whatever was necessary to help Keith get back to sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POSES I already have chapter 3 half done :3c I've just been working out, uh, how exactly the fic is going to Go lol BUT IT'S COMING ALONG NICELY LOTS OF hurt and soft hehe owo
> 
> If you have any questions about Keith or Krolia/Dad's biology or anything please feel free to ask! I have put A Lot of thought into it sjfhkjsdh probably too much but yeAH
> 
>  **Please leave a comment down below!!!!** They are the best way to tell if people are liking my fic and they really inspire me!!! 
> 
> You can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com)! I love Sheith and talking about Sheith and crying about Sheith (esp after s8 lololol rip) so please come find me if you want!
> 
> I'll be back soon with chapter 3! :3c


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!!! :3c I'm back with chapter 3! 
> 
> Thank you so so so much for the response to this fic!!! I'm glad Sheith fandom loves mer AUs as much as I do owo
> 
> Anyway, i just want to say this chapter has more dialogue and while it's in there that doesn't mean Keith truly understands all that is being said. I tried to explain that in the fic as much as a could, but it does get a little repetitive to be like "Keith was confused" eight hundred times so yEAH sorry he's a fish and he's confused sometimes
> 
> Enjoy and I'll see ya in the end notes owo

“Keith! Keith, where are you?”

He was hiding behind a cropping of rocks in a fun game of hide and seek with his parents. He knew they could find him any time, but they humored him and let him try his best to hide. Playing with his parents was always one of the best parts of his childhood. They were so doting, and he knew he was their whole world, and it made him feel loved above all else. Now that he was older, he still liked to go back to those memories just for the light, airy feeling that would sprout in his chest upon their resurfacing.

“Have you seen him, Krolia?”

“No, he’s getting pretty good, I guess,” his mom laughed, “Come on, little pup. Come out!”

He giggled to himself, muffing the sounds into his hands as he scrunched up behind the rocks. This was probably his best hiding place yet. They would never find him here.

“Keith? Keith! _Keith_ , where are you?”

“Come on out, son,” his dad’s voice came, more stern than before to couple with the frantic tone of his mom’s. Had it been too long? He figured it was too long now, and probably dinner time, so he swam out from behind the rocks, waving to his parents.

“I’m over here!” He called, smiling as he waved, trying to get their attention.

“Keith! Come out please! You’re scaring us!” His mom called even louder, turning in the water to look for him. Her eyes were on him, _right_ on him, but she wasn’t seeing him.

“Mom?” He called, swimming forward only to collide with an invisible barrier, “ _Mom_!”

His own voice came deeper, and suddenly he looked down to see himself grown up, no longer a child, “Mom, I’m right here! Dad, can’t you see me?”

He pounded against the surface of the barrier with his fists, clawed at it, pushing against it to try and break through. His parents were getting more and more frantic, crying his name out into the water, and his mom had even started to sing to try and reach him. They were fading away, swimming in the wrong direction. They wouldn’t even look at him.

They were _leaving_ him.

“I’m right here! I’m here! _Mom_! _Dad_!” He screamed, and then there was a change in the water, startling him. The ocean turned dark and choppy around him, and when he turned around the dark shape of boat was looming over him.

“No, no, please, _no_ ,” he gasped, taking off in another direction only to smack into the same barrier. The same thing happened in every direction he swam. His parents were gone. He was trapped. He was alone.

The boat was coming closer.

“Keith!” Someone called his name and he looked around wildly for the source, but no one was there.

Through the surface of the water he could see _them_ , the humans, and they were readying their tools to catch him. He saw the shiny glint of the metal weapons they had used to catch him before, and he reached to grasp at his shoulder and side, shrinking away as he remembered the pain from before. His back hit the barrier again, trapping him in and he sank lower and lower into the water.

“No! Please leave me alone! _Leave me alone_!”

“Keith! _Keith_!”

He woke up with a choked gasp, struggling to sit up as he coughed hard, his body shuddering with the force of the spasms. There was warm weight on his uninjured shoulder that helped him sit up, and when he finally opened his eyes, Shiro was there.

The human – _Shiro_. A human that had actually been kind to him, who had helped him. Had he been calling out to him to wake him from the dream?

Shiro was looking at him with so much worry in his grey eyes as he reached out, gently stroking his cheek, wiping tears away. His touch was so warm and careful, and Keith wanted to lean into it. He felt starved for any kind of touch. He and his parents usually slept in their home close together to stay warm, but for so long he felt completely alone, isolated and _cold_.

At least the human knew his name. Eventually, even with how hazy his mind felt, he had gotten the idea that Shiro wanted to know what he was called, and the name the human used was probably as close as he would get considering how different human language was to his natural tongue.

The human had been so kind when he had woken up before. He had soothed him, tried to explain what was happening to him, and then he had fed him actual fish, no more of the strange mush that the other place had given him. It had tasted good, but he was still so tired, too weak to even eat his usual fill.

“Are you okay, Keith?” The human asked, catching his attention back from his thoughts, and he knew by now what the words meant. He coughed wetly again in response, and Shiro was quick to get him some water, helping him sit up more so he could drink it down. The cool water soothed his throat, but every breath he took felt like a choked rasp coming from his lungs. His chest hurt in a way he had never felt before, and he placed his hand there before he looked up at the human with concerned eyes.

“You’re not feeling too good, are you,” Shiro frowned, gently helping him lay back in the bed, “Let me show you.” The human left for a moment before he returned with a strange, dark material. He held it above him, towards the light, and when he squinted Keith could make out shapes in the dark. Were those the _pictures_ the other lab had talked about? He didn’t know for sure, but he guessed Shiro had taken some himself.

“Those are your lungs,” Shiro said, motioning to his chest before he pointed to brighter areas on the picture, “This is- an _illness_. You are sick right here. Probably from breathing in unclean water. Did they put you in bad water?”

Keith blinked slowly, pressing his lips together as he tried to comprehend the words being spoken to him. He could pick up on some of them from listening while he was at the other human place, and what he surmised Shiro was telling him was that the water they had put him in when he couldn’t breathe was bad for him. He remembered how it tasted unclean, but he had been so relieved at that time he had had no choice but to breathe it in.

He nodded slowly up at Shiro, which made a sad smile come onto the human’s face, “I’m going to help you get better, Keith,” Shiro said gently, setting the picture away.

Shiro had taken _scans_ of him as well, and he didn’t know if that bothered him or not. The other lab was cruel to him, but Shiro was kind so far. He hadn’t tied him up or put anything on his face so he couldn’t bite. Still, as much as he wanted to, it was too early to trust him fully. He was still a human. Even if his voice was so gentle, and his eyes looked at him with so much wonder and care, he had never trusted anyone other than his parents.

Keith tiredly moved his gaze throughout the room, his eyes landing on a window, and from what he could see that it was daybreak.

How long had he been _gone_?

How long had his parents been searching for him? And had they given up yet?

The last thought brought a lump to his throat, and he was quick to blink away the stinging in his eyes. He couldn’t think about that. Hopefully Shiro would be nice enough to let him go once he was fully healed, and then he would scour the ocean in search of his parents if he had to. He hoped they were alright, that they hadn’t been caught by bad humans too.

“Are you hungry again?” Shiro asked, bringing his thoughts back to the present. Hungry. That was the word from before, and he understood it now. He shook his head, letting out a soft sigh as he let his gaze track back to the window.

Sunrise was one of his favorite times, and watching the sunrise with his mom was extra special. She could come to the surface at night without the sunlight there to hurt her skin, and they would watch the sun dye the sky a soft pink before they submerged together.

He felt the hot sting of tears coming to his eyes again and he was quick to blink them away. He knew he had to stay strong and get better if he was going to get back to the ocean. Resting was more important than thinking about his parents as if they were gone forever.

Keith moved his attention to Shiro instead. The human was fiddling around with the bags feeding the tube attached into his arm, and he made a soft sound in his throat to get the human’s attention. Shiro’s gaze snapped over quickly and Keith gestured to the thing on his arm, giving Shiro a slow, questioning blink.

“Oh, you want to know what this is?” Shiro hummed, narrowing his eyes a bit as he thought, “It’s hard to explain… These-” he pointed to the bags, “These have _medicine_ in them. It makes you feel better, and it’ll make the illness go away, get it? It goes right into your blood so it can work really fast.”

From what he gathered from Shiro’s words, it was the good version of what the other lab did to him with their needles. He shuddered at the thought of them advancing on him with the injection with the knowledge that it would make him pass out only to wake up tied up in a strange place. Shiro noticed the shudder and came closer to him, gently feeling his forehead with a frown, “You’re still running a fever… You need to get more rest, Keith,” he said gently.

He pulled his hand away, and Keith resisted the urge to chase it. Shiro’s hand had been cool against his skin, like the ocean water, and it made him miss being in his natural environment even more. Shiro took time to cover him over again with the cloth he had thrown off when he woke up from his nightmare. It made him feel better to be covered up rather than exposed in the large room, and from the smile on Shiro’s face, he figured the human knew that too.

“Get some more sleep, Keith,” Shiro murmured, reaching to stroke some soothing fingers through his hair, “I’ll be here when you wake up, okay?”

Sleep sounded like the best idea for the time being, especially with how he could barely keep his eyes open. He spared one last look into Shiro’s eyes, taking in the warmth in his expression, and he fell asleep to the feeling of Shiro’s fingers in his hair.

* * *

 

The next time Keith woke up, it was later in the morning, likely early afternoon. Shiro was close by as promised, and when he saw he was awake he quickly escorted another human, a burlier man, out of the lab so they could be alone. It made him feel more comfortable with just Shiro there, but if Shiro was nice, were the other people he had in the lab nice too?

He left that to be determined later. He didn’t know how long he would be in this place, but with how weak he felt and the degree of his injuries, he knew it would be a while. There was plenty of time to gauge whether the other humans were on the same level as Shiro was.

When they were alone again, Shiro brought him some more fish to eat, insisting he eat at least something to keep his strength up. He didn’t feel too hungry, but the human was right, and he managed to eat three small squid before he shook his head at the rest of what Shiro was offering.

It was after that that Shiro came over with some shiny metal tools, _medicines_ , and more of the same white stuff that was covering his injuries. There was sympathy in his tone as he gestured to the injuries, and Keith figured it was time for him to tend to them again. He couldn’t help but to tense up as Shiro moved to guide his arm out of the cloth immobilizing it and cut the white coverings away. From where he could see, the injuries looked as bad as they ever had, and he was particularly concerned about the one to his shoulder.

He didn’t remember much of his escape from the other place, but he remembered how his shoulder had burned with pain every time he had moved his arm while swimming.

What if he couldn’t swim again? If he was hurt too badly, if his arm didn’t _work_ , how was he supposed to go back to the ocean? How would he find his parents and hunt for food?

“Keith,” Shiro said softly, grabbing his attention away from his thoughts, “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said as he cleaning the wound with some strange yellow liquid, “You’re going to be okay. I promise, I’ll have you up and on your way home as soon as I can, understand?”

Enough of Shiro’s words made sense to let him relax a little bit, and he left a soft croon of understanding trickle from his lips as he watched Shiro work. The human was very careful with how he used his tools, and even when the wound stung from something Shiro did to it, the human still did his best to try and soothe him. The other humans had never tried to ease his pain, but Shiro seemed to take on his pain as his own, and that made something stir inside of Keith’s chest. The idea that Shiro cared about him because he was just a _good human_ seemed too good to be true, but he didn’t have any reason to doubt it yet.

With a sigh, he let himself drift off slightly as Shiro covered over his shoulder again and moved to his side. Other than a few winces, the treatment wasn’t too painful, and he only opened his eyes again when Shiro’s hand passed over his forehead.

“You don’t feel as warm,” the human murmured, “That’s good, Keith. It means the medicine is working.”

That especially got his attention.

He was getting _better_? _Already_? Did human _medicines_ really work that quickly?

“Is your breathing okay” Shiro asked, gesturing to his chest, “Does it hurt?”

Keith frowned as he took a deep breath in, trembling a bit as he coughed a few times on the exhale. He hadn’t been in the water since he had escaped the other lab, and he knew he would probably feel better if he was in the water. Was Shiro actually going to let him be _in_ the water?

He whipped his head up to Shiro when the coughs subsided, giving him a wide-eyed blink as a questioning sound left his throat.

“What is it, Keith?” Shiro asked, siting on the edge of the bed he was in, “What’s up?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but he knew he couldn’t speak the human language. He recognized words, and he could decipher most of what Shiro was saying, but he couldn’t speak the language himself. It was too strange, too difficult, so instead he pointed towards the windows in the room, letting a soft whine leave his throat to show his desperation.

Shiro’s expression changed after a moment, and understanding came into his gaze before a sad smile slipped onto his lips, “I’m sorry, Keith. I can’t let you go into the water until your injuries are better and your fever is gone. I know it probably feels weird to be out in the open like this, but this is the best way for you to heal… But if you want to breathe water, I had something that might help.”

Keith watched as he walked away from the bed, going to the other side of the room to fetch something before he returned with a strange device, “It’s hard to explain, but someone in my lab invented this to help merpeople like you,” he smiled, “It goes over your nose and mouth and fills up with water, and these parts cover your gills to take the water away to be re-oxygenated… Sorry, I know I’m probably making no sense,” he laughed a bit, “Do you want to try it?”

He didn’t really understand most of what Shiro was saying – something about breathing in the water, but not being in water – but when the human held up the device, all he could see was something far too similar to the things the other lab had used to muzzle and gag him.

A sharp sound of alarm tore its way from his throat and he shook his head hard, moving backwards on the bed to try and get as far away from that thing as possible. He didn’t want anything like that. The other humans had muzzled him so he couldn’t bite and could barely breathe. They had put something in his mouth to hold his jaw open while the inspected his teeth as they pleased. He hated it, and he could still remember the feeling.

Did Shiro want to do the same thing to him?

One of his arms was still immobilized so he turned his head away, covering up his face the best he could in the crook of his free arm. He could feel himself shaking, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the inevitable.  

“Keith? Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Shiro’s voice was back, concerned but as caring as ever, but _no_ , it had to be a fake-out, right? “I’m sorry, Keith, I- I didn’t know you would react like that…”

He cracked open his eyes and Shiro was there, in his line of sight, a helpless look on his face, which was a far different look than he had expected.

“ _No_ ,” he whispered, his voice cracking as he tried to communicate to Shiro, but he knew with his meager knowledge of human language he would never be able to fully detail what the other humans did to him. He covered his mouth with his palm, shaking his head, “No, _no_ , _no_.”

“ _Keith_ ,” Shiro said his name again, though his voice actually quivered when he spoke, “Keith, I- did the other humans- did they gag you?” He asked softly, motioning towards his own mouth, “Did they do that to you?”

So Shiro _did_ understand. He understood and he looked sad, and almost _angry_ , but not at him, but rather _for_ him.

Shakily, he nodded his head, blinking back the stinging feeling in his eyes, “ _Shiro_ ,” he whispered, feeling his voice cracking a bit as he begged in the only way he knew how, “ _No_ …”

“I won’t, I won’t _ever_ do that to you, okay? I promise,” Shiro said hurriedly, coming close to his side, “Do you want to see it? It’ll help you breathe better, help your lungs heal. You can take it off if you don’t like it. But it really will help, Keith. It won’t hurt. I promise.”

There was that word again: _promise_. Shiro said it only when his tone was very firm, but still kind. The thing he was offering wasn’t like what the other people had put on him, and he wouldn’t be restrained so he could take it off himself, but as Shiro brought it over to him and set it in his lap, it still reminded his so much of the muzzling devices.

He frowned at it, reaching to prod at it before he whisked his hand away. It felt _weird_ , unlike anything that was contained in the ocean, and he didn’t know if he even liked it being _near_ him.

“Keith,” Shiro hand touched his own slightly to get his attention before he pulled away again, “Keith, if you trust me even a little bit, know that I- I would never do anything to hurt you… I think this could help make you feel better, but if you don’t want to do it, then I won’t push you.”

Keith realized then that Shiro was giving him a choice, rather than forcing him to do anything. Even if he was essentially unable to leave the lab, unable to get back to the ocean due to his injuries, Shiro was treating him like an equal, like he cared about his preferences and desires. He had let Keith choose what he wanted to eat rather than attempting to force the food into his mouth like the other humans had.

And if Shiro said it would make him feel better, then maybe it actually would, but it was still his choice in the matter.

“It’s alright,” Shiro spoke up after a long while, “I don’t want to force you, Keith.” He reached to take the device away, but Keith shakily reached out, snagging his claws on Shiro’s sleeve to stop him, “Keith?” Shiro said his name softly, and he nodded, ducking his head to hide his eyes in his bangs, “You want to try it?” Slowly, he nodded his head, swallowing around the nervous lump in his throat.

He felt Shiro picking the thing up, and then suddenly Shiro’s hand was on his cheek, his thumb stroking slowly over the mark there that mimicked his mother’s, “You’ll be okay, Keith. Just let me know if you don’t like it. I’m right here.”

Carefully, Shiro fitted the thing over his face, covering his nose and mouth with the strange mask. There were things that covered his gills strapped across his chest, and when Shiro turned on the contraption, he only had to wait a second before water was flowing over his nose and mouth. He coughed as he took a deep breath, gasping as he got himself to breathe more slowly, squeezing his eyes shut to cancel out the strangeness of what was happening and focus on the fact that he was breathing water without actually being _in_ the water. The ache in his chest that flared up every time he took a breath of air was gone, replaced by relief that could only come by breathing water.

Shiro’s hand had migrated to his hair in the process, his fingers stroking gently through the soft strands, and the repeated sensation kept him calm. With his eyes closed, he could almost imagine he wasn’t in a human lab recovering from injuries that could have killed him. He could feel his mind wanting to transport him back to the ocean, and he could almost pretend Shiro’s hand was his mother’s.

It wasn’t, of course, but when he cracked his eyes open halfway, Shiro’s soft smile was enough to furnish a little warmth in his heart.

“You okay?” Shiro asked gently, “Does it hurt? Or feel weird?” He shook his head slightly, blinking tiredly up at Shiro as the human inspected the device, making sure it wasn’t digging into his skin in any way that was uncomfortable, “Thank you for trusting me, Keith…”

In an answer, Keith leaned into Shiro’s hand, crooning quietly as he let his eyes slip shut again. He felt tired again, exhausted even, and he knew it was because he was sick. The time he was awake was often spent partially in trying to stave off his impending exhaustion again. With Shiro’s hand carefully stroking his cheek and through his hair, he felt a sleepy calm wash over him, and he was too relaxed to try and stay awake for any longer.

* * *

 

Evidently, getting to breathe water let him relax enough to get a long, peaceful sleep, the first he had gotten in a long time. When he woke up, he could tell he had slept through the rest of the previous day and into the morning of the next. He felt more rested than he had since he was taken from the ocean. He was warm, aided by the cloth that Shiro always covered him with, and his chest didn’t hurt as it had before.

In his sleep addled state, it took him a long moment to realize the person who was examining the bags of _medicine_ wasn’t Shiro. When he blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes, he recognized the other human he had seen the previous day standing there. He couldn’t help the panic that rushed into his chest knowing that Shiro wasn’t there. Even if Shiro was kind, the other people were strangers, untested in the ways they could possibly hurt him.

An alarmed sound rose from his throat and he struggled to sit up, moving to the other side of the bed to distance himself from the human. What was strange was the way the other human jumped back in the opposite direction as well, staring at him with wide eyes and his hands in front of him to make him appear non-threatening.

“Shiro!” The other human called, “He’s awake!”

As if on cue, Shiro all but ran into the room, coming straight to Keith’s bedside with a worried look on his face, “Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly, his hand falling into Keith’s hair, which sent a soothing wave through his body, letting him calm down a bit, “Sorry I wasn’t here, Keith.” He motioned for the other human to do something, and the next moment the water was draining away from the mask on his face and Shiro reached to remove it, letting him cough a few times as air reentered his lungs.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” the other human said a bit sheepishly, and Keith turned his gaze up to Shiro, a quiet sound leaving his lips as a question.

“Keith, this is Hunk,” Shiro said slowly, pointing to the other human, “That’s his name; _Hunk_. He helps me do things in the lab.”

Keith let his gaze track over to the other human where he was standing several feet away. He had warm eyes, and he was smiling softly, so all in all he didn’t look too dangerous, but he still couldn’t be trust just yet. He had only just given Shiro a small bit of his trust, but other humans would be too many too quickly.

Shiro clearly picked up on his wariness and he approached Hunk, speaking with him quietly before the other human left the room, leaving them alone again, “How are you feeling?” Shiro asked with a smile, “You’ve been asleep for almost a day.”

Keith hummed softly as he cocked his head to the side, taking an analysis of how exactly he felt in that moment. His side still ached, as did his head and his shoulder, but it was easier to breathe and he was coughing less. He felt less hot and cold as well, and he figured that the _fever_ Shiro had mentioned was finally over.

But he didn’t really have a way to communicate all of that to Shiro so instead to placed his free hand over his stomach, keening softly to signal his hunger.

“You’re hungry?” Shiro asked before he nodded and quickly went to get the same fish receptacle as before, “I just went to the fish market a little while ago. I figured you’d be hungry when you woke up,” he beamed, “Have whatever you want.”

His appetite seemed to have come back with a lot more force and he eagerly ate his way through several fairly large fish, which Shiro helped him eat by cutting into pieces. The human seemed very pleased that he was eating so much, sitting by his side supplying him with fish without a complaint leaving his lips, and when he had eaten his fill Shiro was still smiling at him with such joy he really didn’t think was warranted.

“I’m glad you’re feeling a little better,” he murmured as he moved some hair out of Keith’s eyes, “We’ll need to get some other pictures of your lungs to see how the medicines are working, but I think you’re getting a lot better.”

That was good news, good enough news that Keith couldn’t help but give Shiro a smile, a _real_ smile of gratitude, crooning happily as he leaned into his hand. He knew it would be a slow process, but he was getting better, and it was all because Shiro had chosen to be kind to him rather than cruel.

“You know, Hunk is really nice, and so are the other people who work in my lab,” Shiro mused softly as he ran his fingers through his hair, “There are only a few of us here, and they would all really like to meet you. You’re special, Keith, and truth be told we don’t really get to meet a lot of merpeople.”

The prospect of meeting more humans wasn’t entirely thrilling. Truthfully, if he never had to meet any other humans again, he would be most content, but if these were Shiro’s lab people, and if he said they were nice, then Keith knew it was probably true.

“There’s Pidge,” Shiro continued slowly so he could keep track of his words, “She actually made that,” he pointed to the mask, “so you could breathe without being in the water. And then her brother, Matt. Hunk, who you met before, and Lance, who is here doing research. And me,” he smiled, “That’s all of us, not too many, but I promise we all really care about you and want you to be healthy.”

Only five humans? That was it? The other lab had a lot more people, and so did the people in the boat who had captured him, and Keith figured that maybe Shiro only found good people to work with him. In that case, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to meet them, especially if he was going to be in the lab for a decent length of time as he got well enough to return to the ocean.

He gave a soft sigh before he nodded up at Shiro, and the human’s eyes instantly lit up, “Really, Keith? You wouldn’t mind meeting everyone?” He huffed a bit, giving a shrug with his good shoulder, but Shiro only laughed softly, his thumb dragging n endearing stroke down his cheek before he pulled away, “I’ll go get them. Be right back.”

In Shiro’s absence, Keith managed to push himself into a sitting position on the bed, wincing a bit when his movement made his side start to ache again, but once he stilled the pain faded into a low throb. He could tell that Shiro had changed the bandages while he was asleep, and he was grateful for it. It usually hurt to have the human check over the wounds, and seeing them only made him feel worse about the length of time it would take for him to return to sea.

With a sigh, he craned his head over his shoulder, blinking in the direction Shiro left in, and as if on cue Shiro returned with four other humans in tow. He led the humans around the bed so Keith could see them face on, and he spent a long moment staring at them his, gaze shifting from one to the next before he finally landed on Shiro, expecting an introduction.

“Everyone, this is Keith,” Shiro all but beamed as he presented him to the other humans, “Keith, this is Hunk, who you met earlier, Lance, Pidge, and Matt,” he said, gesturing to each human as he went down the line.

The humans didn’t seem too bad as he observed them. Up close, the one called Hunk seemed to have a kind face, and Keith found he rather liked the warmth in his brown eyes. The one called Lance was regarding him in a scrutinizing way, which reminded him a bit of the humans from the other lab so he quickly moved on, surveying the other two. They looked rather similar, but one was taller and had longer hair, while the other had strange, round, metal- _things_ perched on her nose.

All in all, there were different from each other, which made Keith feel better in a way. The humans at the other lab had all worn the same clothes, and a lot of them had worn masks to cover the bottom halves of their faces, so Keith had generally regarded them as one whole entity.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” the one called Hunk smiled wide, “Again, sorry for scaring you earlier.” He seemed apologetic enough so Keith gave him a tiny nod, fiddling with the edge of the blanket in the awkward silence that followed.

“I heard you tried the mask I made out,” Pidge spoke up, “Did it feel okay?”

When he nodded in response, the one named Lance let out a huff, “I thought you said he _talked_ , Shiro.”

“He does,” Shiro said, almost in a defensive way, “He’s just not comfortable doing it… He understands a lot of human words so far though. He’s very intelligent.”

“If you say so,” Lance frowned, crossing his arms, “Have you asked him what species he is yet?”

“Uh, kinda not the focus right now, Lance,” Hunk said, “He was badly injured when Shiro brought him in. It’s not like he’s here for fun.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Lance groaned, “But come on, this could be groundbreaking! Can I ask him?”

“If you want,” Shiro shrugged, his hand falling to rest his fingers against Keith’s own, “But be gentle, okay? And do _not_ push him, Lance.”

“I got it, I got it,” Lance said quickly as he moved closer to Keith’s side, which made Keith want to shrink away a bit. He wasn’t used to having anyone but Shiro near him, and it had taken a little while for him to even be halfway comfortable with that. He had only met this _Lance_ a few minutes earlier, which was not enough time at all to even feel comfortable with anything pertaining to him.

He had followed the conversation a bit, but most of the words had been lost on him. Shiro always made an effort to explain things with gestures, and he always spoke slowly for him, but the other humans’ words came so fast, and with so many of them he couldn’t quite follow. At one point, he parted his lips, aiming to ask what was being said, but he didn’t know how to formulate the words to even do so.

“Hey, uh, _Keith_ ,” Lance said, “I’m doing research on merpeople, and I, uh, well- I was wondering if you knew what species you are?” He trailed off slowly, his words coming awkwardly, and Keith could only cock his head in confusion before he looked up at Shiro for answers.

“You really think he’d understand that, Lance?” Matt asked, “Seriously, _what species are you_? He’s a _real_ merman, not a simulation, or a test question.”

“Nice job,” Pidge snorted, “Your future Ph.D. is _quaking_.”

“Hey! Shut it!” Lance snapped, and Keith could see redness on his cheeks even as he pressed himself a bit farther back in the bed at the heightened volume of his voice, “I’m bad at this,” he bemoaned, “But _Shiro_ said he was smart so- I don’t know! What should I ask him?”

“I don’t know, but maybe you should talk quieter, and slower,” Hunk suggested, “I think you’re scaring him.”

“Am not,” Lance snorted, “Well, if he can’t answer, it’s easier to just observe anyway.”

“Lance, maybe you should ask Keith first,” Shiro said guardedly, and Keith edged a bit more towards the side of the bed Shiro was standing next to, “Keith is still really wary around humans, okay?”

At that point, Keith could feel something akin to what he felt in the other lab welling up in his chest. Shiro was there, a gentle touch against his hand, but the other humans were way too close and loud and confusing. He didn’t know what they were truly saying about him, if they had good intentions or not, and it was _scaring_ him. He hated being crowded in, especially after he was kept in the small room in the other lab, and it was starting to feel like they were all pushing in on him even if they weren’t moving.

“He let’s you hang out with him all the time!” The one called Lance said, gesturing towards Shiro with an arm that came far too close to comfort for Keith, “Come on, Shiro, just let me- _Agh_!”

Before he could realize what he was doing, Keith sank his teeth into the offending arm that once again flashed way too close to his face, but when the human cried out, he realized he was biting someone who was _friends_ with _Shiro_ , and he quickly let go, staring with wide eyes as Lance staggered away from the bed, and the other humans hurried after him.

“He _bit_ me!” Lance practically shrieked as he clutched his arm to his chest, “Oh my God, _he bit me_!”

The taste of blood was in his mouth, a bitter tang on his tongue, and Keith could feel his heartbeat thudding in his own ears as he watched the other humans, Shiro included, tend to Lance.

It hadn’t been on _purpose_. It was just instinct. He had been frightened and it was just instinct to protect himself. But he couldn’t communicate that for himself. He didn’t even know how to begin. He couldn’t do anything but watch as they took care of the human who he had hurt when no one at this lab had ever hurt him.

Would they tie him up now?

Would they move him to a tiny room with no food and no water where he couldn’t hurt anyone again?

Would they _gag_ him like the others?

He felt a mortified whimper break free from his throat and he buried his face in his hands, gasping for air that suddenly felt like it was completely absent from his lungs.

He had ruined everything.

He had attacked someone Shiro had told him was nice. He had attacked and hurt one of _Shiro’s_ humans. There was no way they would help him anymore after that.

What if they got rid of him? What if they decided he was dangerous and just _got rid of him_? He would never go home, never see his mother or his fa-

“ _Keith_!” Shiro’s voice broke through his panicked thoughts, and suddenly warm, strong arms were wrapped around him, holding tightly, but not too tightly, as Shiro pulled him close to his chest, rubbing a soothing hand up and down his quivering back, “Keith, _Keith_ , hey shh… Shh… it’s alright, everyone’s okay. It’s _alright_.”

He let a choked gasp leave his throat as he panted for air, and he felt the hot burn of tears starting in his eyes before he could stop it. Shiro pressed all around him brought him back and let him breathe again, by why was Shiro holding _him_? Shouldn’t he be helping his injured friend?

A whimpered sob left his throat and Shiro was pulling back a bit, swiping away his tears as they slipped from his eyes, “Keith, don’t _cry_. It’s alright, everything is alright.”

How was it alright? _How_?

“A-ah,” he choked out amidst his hurried gulps of air, “ _L-L-ance_?” He managed to get out what he hoped was a decent pronunciation of the injured human’s name, not even daring to peek out behind Shiro to see what was happening to the one he had harmed.

“He’s _fine_ , Keith,” Shiro said simply, a soft smile on his lips, “Hunk is patching him up. You didn’t even bite him that badly, probably because you didn’t really _want_ to,” he murmured, “You were just- scared, right? And overwhelmed? I shouldn’t have brought so many people to meet you all at once… I’m sorry…”  

That wasn’t right.

Shiro was apologizing to him? That didn’t make much sense, but before he could really think of a reason why, something wet touched his lips, and he realized Shiro was gently wiping away only a trace amount of blood from his lips and chin with a damp cloth.

“Sh-Shiro,” he whispered desperately, his own voice wavering with fear before he reached up, shakily pressing his palm over his mouth with what he hoped was a question reflected in his eyes.

And Shiro understood right away, his eyes going wide as he shook his head quickly, “No! _No_ , Keith… Of course I’m not going to- _gag_ you,” he got out, “It was just an accident, okay? Lance is fine. You just need to take some deep breaths and calm down now… Everything’s okay, Keith. You’re still safe here with me.”

Keith blinked up at him in disbelief, trying to wrap his head around what Shiro was communicating to him. Everything was _okay_? It wasn’t his fault? And Shiro wasn’t going to put him away for being dangerous?

He hiccupped softly in baffled relief before he reached for Shiro again, and the human quickly accepted him into a close embrace, running his fingers through his hair and making soothing sounds in his throat. Being wrapped in a comforting, real warmth was something he hadn’t felt in so long, not since he was last home with his parents, and he found he craved it. It made his breath come easier and made his thoughts slow down. The fear swirling in his chest dropped to the background as he focused on Shiro’s closeness. He didn’t know how long he stayed in Shiro’s arms, but eventually his eyes stopped smarting with terrified tears, and he almost started to doze against the human’s chest.

He could hear Shiro’s heartbeat through his chest, slow and comforting, and the thrum of it was so soothing combined with the way Shiro was cradling his head and passing his hand up and down his back. Shiro was so good, so warm, and Keith couldn’t truly wrap his mind around how humans like him really existed.

“Hey, uh, Keith?” A voice broke him out of the sleepy haze he was in and he blinked his eyes open, hesitantly peering around the side of Shiro’s arm to see Lance standing there, a guilty look in his blue eyes. He resisted hiding himself away again, simply because the other human looked as guilty as he himself felt. Lance’s forearm had a small white bandage wrapped around it, but it didn’t look like he was permanently injured, “I’m- I’m really sorry,” the human said quietly, his throat bobbing before he spoke again, “I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just- I never thought I would get to meet anyone like you, and I just- I got excited… I’m sorry. It was my fault,” he admitted sheepishly, “I’m _really_ sorry…”

The apology seemed as genuine as it could have been, even with Keith’s meager knowledge of the human tongue, and it was still staggering that the human was apologizing to _him_ for what had happened. Lance’s words made the rest of the residual fear fade from his mind and he let out a long breath before he nodded slowly at the human, which brought a smile to Lance’s face.

Shiro’s humans were definitely different from the ones at the other lab, and maybe they weren’t so bad after all, he decided as he buried his face against Shiro’s chest once more, letting himself savor the embrace before it would end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WROW MER KEEF! sorry Lance I feel like I'm always mean to him but he's a good boy and he and Keith will be better buddies soon :'3c 
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING!!! If you have any questions about the fic and stuff please feel free to ask! A few people have been asking me how Dad and Krolia met and idk if I'll get the chance to put it in the fic but if you want to know I could always explain in the end notes? IDK JUST LMK!
> 
>  **Please leave a comment down below!!!** They really really really help with inspiration for writing the next chapter! 
> 
> You can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com)! I love Sheith and talking about Sheith and crying about Sheith so please come find me if you want!
> 
> SEEYA NEXT TIME :3c


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!!! I'm back with an update ;w; 
> 
> I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. I got really busy with my friends and my last semester of college and I didn't really want to even be part of Sheith fandom anymore after my writing got rejected from another zine, bringing my total up to 22 rejections haha... I know my writing isn't as good as most of the others in this fandom, but I hope some people will still enjoy this fic anyway. I'm still trying to finish my on-going fics before I leave SK fandom so I hope you enjoy this update! 
> 
> See ya in the end notes!

After several days of having Keith in the lab, Shiro had fallen into a routine that grew more and more familiar by the day. He was a man of habit, but it didn’t take much more than the fact that Keith was in his lab to put all his normal routines on the backburner. Truthfully, he had barely been in his own home since he found Keith washed up on the shore, only returning a few times to collect clothes and sneak in a few naps before he headed back to the lab.

Instead of taking a run in the morning, he spent the early hours meeting some fishermen at the docks to procure a selection of the freshest fish for Keith’s meals for the day. After he returned to the lab, he monitored the merman’s vitals and cleaned his wounds, preferring to do the latter task while Keith was sleeping to avoid hurting him too much.

When Keith woke up in the mornings, he tended to him, providing him with whichever fish he was most interested in that day. He had started to catch on to Keith’s tastes. He didn’t really care for fish that lived near reefs, and Shiro suspected that was because he spent most of his life in the open ocean rather than closer to the shore.

Shiro knew he wasn’t getting as much sleep as he normally would, and his meals were taken at haphazard times when Keith was resting, but he didn’t care. Finally, he was doing the kind of work he had spent his entire life training for. Seeing the way Keith’s eyes would shine when he was presented with something he liked to eat was enough to make Shiro forget his own exhaustion altogether.

As he watched Keith’s vitals improve by the day, saw the way some color returned to his cheeks, noticed how his eyes were brighter and less dulled by exhaustion, it only made him more and more elated. Of course, with only a little under a week in the lab, Keith had a long way to go in terms of healing, but Shiro knew he didn’t regret a single second he spent at the merman’s side.

He came in one morning as usual with a cooler of fresh fish in hand, and he passed by the employee lounge where everyone typically took their breaks and meals when they weren’t too busy to leave their desks, “Hey! Shiro!” Pidge called, waving him into the room, “What are you up to?”

“Just back from the fish market,” Shiro motioned to the cooler in his hand, “I got Keith’s food for the day.”

“You know, someone else can handle some of your Keith duties,” Hunk said gently, “No offense, but you’re kind of stretching yourself a little thin. Have you even slept a _night_ since he got here?”

“I’m fine,” Shiro shook his head with a short laugh, “Trust me. I get enough naps in during the day,” he shrugged, choosing to ignore the doubtful looks from his co-workers, “What are you guys up to?”

“Well,” Pidge grinned, dragging her gaze over to a rather silent Lance, who was dressed far more professionally than his usual jeans and a t-shirt, “Our very own _lover boy_ Lance here heard that that pretty lawyer from the firm who does our legal stuff is coming in today to look over the evidence we have on Keith, so he dressed up all fancy to impress her.”

“I did _not_!” Lance sputtered, his cheeks flushing as he tugged at the poorly-tied tie around his neck, “I just- felt like looking like a _professional_ is all! You guys could learn from me, you know…”

“Yeah, sure,” Hunk snorted, “Because you’ve totally dressed nicely for work before, right?”

“There was one time!” Lance attempted to argue, “I don’t remember exactly, but there _was_ one time!”

“Mhm,” Hunk hummed before he turned his attention back to Shiro, “She’ll be here around noon. I’ll get all the photos and other evidence we have together in the conference room.”

“Great, thank you, Hunk,” Shiro smiled, “I’ll see you all later.” With the sounds of his coworkers’ conversations fading from earshot, he headed to the lab. The fact that someone would be coming in to look at the evidence they had on Keith’s capture made him anxious, but he didn’t want that nervousness to be apparent when he went to see Keith.

Luckily, the merman was still fast asleep when he entered the room, and so he spent a few minutes checking him over before he walked down the hall from the medical bay to where their indoor tanks were located. The lab was outfitted with an array of different tanks that could hold merpeople of various sizes for their needs. They had tanks inside the lab that contained only highly filtered water, and tanks outside that were fed by the ocean.

While he knew Keith was desperate to go back to the ocean, he knew the merman was still too susceptible to infection to be let outside. Still, he knew Keith would probably just be happy getting to relax in the water for a little while. The shallowest of the tanks in the lab was a wide pool that only reached two feet in depth. There wasn’t enough room to swim, but Shiro had a feeling it would be relaxing for Keith to just be in the cool water.

Kneeling by the side of the pool, he switched on the pump and the filtration system, testing the temperature of the water against the back of his hand to deem that it was a neutral enough temperature for Keith.

When the tank was full and the filter was running, he headed back his office to change from his scrubs into a wetsuit he kept for whenever they went on dives near the reefs. Giddiness welled up inside his chest at the thought of getting to take Keith to even a small pool of water, and when he arrived back in the lab, Keith was slowly waking up.

“Good morning,” Shiro hummed as he approached his side, unable to help the fondness in his smile at the way the merman was blinking sleepily, his violet eyes bleary with what seemed to be a comfortable sleep, “Did you sleep well?” Shiro asked softly, reaching to stroke Keith’s sleep-warm cheek. A quiet croon left the merman’s throat as he nuzzled into his palm, his jaw splitting into a long yawn the next moment, giving Shiro a full view of his teeth, which were obviously more deadly than a human’s on sight alone.

He knew Keith still felt bad about biting Lance, but truthfully the student  had other things on his mind if the morning conversation was anything to go by. Still, he wanted Keith to feel perfectly safe in the lab so he could focus on getting better before all else.

“Shiro,” Keith murmured, tearing his attention away from his own thoughts, “Ah… _H-hungry_?”

“Of course,” Shiro moved away from the bed to grab the cooler of fish, “I got you a lot today,” he beamed, opening the container at Keith’s side. The merman pushed himself up a bit in the bed, sniffing at the fish before he reached for one buried towards the back, settling back into the bed to eat it.

He sat quietly as Keith ate his way through several fish, feeling rather elated at how the merman’s appetite seemed to have returned as time went on. The more he ate and kept his strength up, the faster he would get better, and Shiro longed for the day he could watch the merman swim off, free of pain, back to the sea.

But for the time being, he could take care of him.

While Keith was eating his last fish, Shiro moved to rummage through the cabinets to find some medical tape to help waterproof Keith’s bandages. The merman’s wounds were healing well, but slowly due to the severity, and he was still wary of having the stitches exposed to water just yet.

“Sit up for me,” Shiro said gently when he returned to Keith’s side. The merman obliged, giving him a curious look as he cocked his head to the side, blinking at the tape in Shiro’s hands, “I have a surprise for you,” Shiro smiled, keeping his tone gentle. He knew that even if Keith couldn’t decipher the meaning behind his words, he could garner a sense of his intent from his tone and his facial expressions. There was overwhelming intellect in the merman’s eyes, and Shiro knew that he followed what he said to a large extent.

“S-Sur-pri-se?” Keith echoed softly, leaning into his touch as Shiro pushed his bangs back to expose the bandage on his forehead, covering it with a strip of the clear wrap to protect it from the water.

“Mhm, a surprise,” Shiro laughed as he moved to the merman’s shoulder, loosening the sling and pushing it away so he could get to Keith’s shoulder, wrapping strips of waterproof bandages over the area before he adjusted the sling back into place.

Keith still peered up at him with curiosity in his gaze as Shiro covered over the bandage that hid the wound in his side, but there wasn’t any tension in him, and it warmed his heart that the merman was relaxed and comfortable around him.

“One last thing,” Shiro smiled as he moved to the opposite side of the bed, “Sorry if it feels weird, or hurts,” he said carefully before he eased the catheter for the IV out of Keith’s arm, firmly pressing a piece of gauze to the spot. Keith made a quiet noise of discomfort, but he didn’t seem too bothered and, once the site had stopped bleeding, Shiro lowered the rail on the side of the bed, “I’m going to take you somewhere, okay, Keith? You’ll like it. I promise.”

Keith looked a little hesitant, but eventually he nodded and Shiro slid his arms up under the merman’s body, carefully lifting him off the bed and holding him against his chest. It felt oddly similar to when he had first found Keith laying hurt on the beach, but instead of being cold and terrified in his arms, Keith was warm and relaxed, his free hand gripping tightly to the front of his wetsuit.

It was a slow walk down the hall to where the tank was, but Shiro didn’t want to rush and risk dropping Keith, but eventually he turned into the room and he could feel Keith perking up in his arms. A quiet gasp left the merman’s throat and he looked up at Shiro with wide eyes, “Sur-prise?” He asked out softly, a bright light of excitement coming into his eyes.

“Yes, Keith,” Shiro laughed softly, carrying him over to the edge of the small pool, “But please, listen for a moment… You can’t swim with your shoulder hurt. Moving it a lot could really hurt it again, okay?” He tried to explain it as best as he could, and some of the new light left Keith’s eyes, but the merman nodded in understanding anyway, “You can stay in the water though… I think it’ll feel nice. And I’ll stay with you.”

Keith stared up at him for a long moment, slowly working out what his words meant, but eventually he crooned softly, pressing his cheek against Shiro’s chest, and Shiro took that as consent.

Carefully, he moved over to the pool of water, crouching so he could lower Keith into the water. The merman gasped when the water lapped at his skin, and Shiro let him go once he was sure Keith was alright. He watched as the merman sank to the bottom of the pool, his eyes closed and lips parted as he breathed in the clean water. He looked so at peace, completely serene beneath the water’s surface, and Shiro knew it was because he _belonged_ there.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay with him. Slowly, he moved to sit in the water as well. It only came up almost to his shoulder when he sat and he reached for Keith then, gently coaxing him to come closer. Unlike several of the other larger tanks in the labs that had plush bottoms, the tank was all hard glass, and he wanted Keith to be comfortable.

The merman shifted in the water, slowly moving towards him until his head rested on one of Shiro’s thighs. Violet eyes stared up at him from under the water, catching the light that beamed across the water’s surface from the windows in the room.

In the water, Keith looked even more ethereal than ever. His hair was dark and wispy, held in a slow, flowing suspension in the water surrounding him. The markings that scoured down his cheeks seemed to fluoresce an array of hues as the water shifted, and as the water moved over his tail, the deep violet seemed to almost shimmer with microscopic glitter.

Keith was infinitely beautiful, the most beautiful merperson Shiro had ever seen whether in person or in photographs, and he was in his care. It was his job to make sure Keith’s beauty wasn’t snuffed out by pain and human greed, but rather protected and cherished. Slowly, he lowered his hand into the pool, passing his fingers through the strands of Keith’s hair held suspended in the water. A melodic sound echoed through the water from Keith’s lips to Shiro’s ears, and he watched as the merman’s eyes slipped shut, his cheek pillowed comfortably against Shiro’s thigh.

Even more overwhelming than his beauty, Keith’s trust was staggering. He trusted Shiro enough to lay close to him, to let down his guard and close his eyes into rest all while Shiro was right beside him. The fact that he had earned that kind of trust from the merman was beyond anything Shiro had ever imagined. Merpeople were so wary of humans, and even the ones he had met before didn’t make any move to try and communicate or learn anything about him. Just getting to talk to Keith and learn from him was more than he could have ever imagined.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered once Keith’s breathing had evened into the calm pace of sleep, “And I’m going to take care of you… Whoever you were calling out to when I found you, whoever is looking for you out there, I’m going to bring you back to them. I _promise_ , Keith…” Gently, he passed his hand through Keith’s hair again, smiling when the merman shifted a bit in his sleep, his tail curling closer to the both of them before he went still again.

There was something so _precious_ about letting Keith sleep in even the small tank of water, and so even as his fingers pruned Shiro didn’t wake him. He knew the merman had been through enough already to deserve a long, quiet rest in a place he felt safe and comfortable. His time was devoted fully to helping Keith recover, and if that meant sitting in the water as long as Keith wanted to sleep, then so be it.

He figured a few hours had passed by the time anyone else came to find him, and when he heard his name being called from the hall he was quick to turn his head and shush Matt before he could wake Keith.

“Finally found you,” Matt said, lowering his voice to almost a whisper, “Is he sleeping?”

“Yeah,” Shiro murmured, unable to help the smile on his lips as he gazed down at Keith, “For a few hours now. I think he feels better being in the water… He fell asleep so fast.”

“That’s good,” Matt smiled in return, “But the attorney from legal is here. She’s waiting for you with Lance and Pidge in the conference room.”

“Alright,” Shiro sighed, “Let me get Keith settled back in the medical bay and get changed, and then I’ll meet you guys in there.”

Once Matt left the room, Shiro turned his attention back towards the sleeping merman. Hesitantly, he reached out, gently shaking Keith’s uninjured shoulder, “Keith,” he murmured, “Hey, time to wake up...” He only had to wait a moment before the merman shifted, his eyelids fluttered as he slowly woke up, craning his head back into a long yawn, “Morning, again,” Shiro smiled as Keith used his good arm to push himself up out of the water, settling against Shiro’s chest, “I have a meeting to go to so I’m going to bring you back to bed, okay?”

Keith blinked sleepily at him before he nodded in consent, reaching to rub sleep from his eyes. Water was dripping in rivulets down his face and body, plastering his hair in wet strands to his face, and Shiro figured it wasn’t the smartest move on his part to not bring any towels along on the excursion, but Keith was more comfortable when he was damp anyway. He got to his feet before he reached to pick Keith back up into his arms, stepping out of the pool to start the walk back.

“Did you like being in the water, Keith?” He asked softly, “I know it’s not much, and it must feel bad to not be able to swim right now, but I promise we’ll get you there, okay?”

Keith only crooned in response, a long, pleased trill leaving his throat as he pressed his cheek into Shiro’s shoulder, his wet hair scattering droplets of water with the movement.

“Is that a yes?” Shiro laughed, giving the merman a smile, and after a moment Keith nodded, his eyes shining with the gratitude Shiro knew was beyond his vocabulary to express, “Then I’m glad… I’m going to try and make you as comfortable as I can while you’re here, Keith. Once your injuries heal a little more you can be in the water all the time, okay?”

Keith seemed to understand that and he nodded eagerly, a series of soft sounds leaving his lips before he smiled softly, easily taking Shiro’s breath away.

When he reentered the medical bay, Shiro managed to dry Keith off somewhat with some towels before he laid him on the bed once more. He busied himself then with redressing his wounds and reinserting the IV, all while Keith watched him with a calm expression.

“I have to go for a little while, okay?” He said softly as he sat on the edge of the bed, reaching to brush Keith’s wet bangs from his eyes, “Hunk will be around if you need anything, but if you need me, just ask him. Understand?” Keith nodded slowly, leaning his head back into the pillow as he shifted a bit to get comfortable.

As soon as he seemed content enough, Shiro got up to leave. He made sure to cover Keith over with blanket before he left, tucking it around the merman when he noticed him shiver slightly. Hopefully, Keith would sleep away the early afternoon and be fine without him there, but he knew he was close enough to the merman that if Keith needed him he could be there in only a few moments.

Once he changed into some dry clothes in his office, he headed for the conference room where Matt and the others were waiting. As expected, Lance was in animated conversation with Allura Altea, the attorney who managed the lab’s legal affairs, but he quieted down when Shiro entered the room.

“Nice to see you again, Allura,” Shiro greeted with a smile, clasping her hand in a quick shake before he moved to sit next to Pidge across the table from her, “Have you already reviewed everything we have?”

“For the most part,” Allura said, “It’s very troubling evidence, and I don’t doubt the people who had this merman prior to you finding him are probably waiting for an opportune moment to come looking for him. Is he still here in your lab?”

“Yes, he’s still in the medical bay,” Shiro nodded, “His injuries are- _severe_ to say the least, but he’s not critical anymore, and he’s recovering well. Once we got the fever and infections in his lungs under control, he started doing better, but it’ll be a while before he’s ready to even be moved to one of our rehabilitation pools, and longer still before I can in good conscience release him back to the wild…”

“I see,” Allura hummed as she made notes on the pad in front of her, likely to bring back to others who handled merpeople ethics cases, “And how is his temperament? Is he violent?”

“He’s pretty wary of people,” Pidge said before Shiro could answer, “But he trusts Shiro the most.”

“So he communicates with you?” Allura asked, her eyebrows raising high on her forehead, “Does he- _speak_?”

“He’s picked up on a lot of our language,” Shiro nodded, “Sometimes he speaks, but usually only single words… I think pronunciation is hard for him, but he understands when I talk to him.”

“That’s very interesting,” Allura nodded before she turned her attention back to the questions written out on a sheet in front of her, “Has he injured anyone that you know of?”

“Why is that important?” Shiro asked and he moved his gaze to Lance, meeting the other man’s hesitant blue stare before he looked back at Allura.

“Just so we know if there could be any legal action taken against this facility from anyone injured,” Allura explained, “I have to ask since, well, merpeople are more regarded as wild animals than people in terms of the law… A suit could bring down the whole lab.”

“He did bite me,” Lance spoke up, causing Allura’s brow to raise. Quickly, he scrambled to explain himself, “It was _totally_ my fault!” He said hurriedly, “I swear. I got too close to him and he was scared so he bit me… It wasn’t _bad_ though! Seriously it barely broke the skin, and I’ll sign whatever papers or forms or _whatever_ you want promising I won’t sue,” he laughed lightly, clearly trying to ease some of the tension, “Trust me if I sue this place I’d never get my doctorate.”

“Alright,” Allura nodded, “I’ll have some forms drawn up for that,” she hummed, which seemed to make Lance deflate a little, likely at her lack of attention paid to his bravado, “The biggest priorities now are making sure the merman recovers well, and finding the identity of whomever found him. If we can, it would be really great if you could somehow prove he was caught in protected waters. Catching merpeople intentionally is frowned upon as it is, but doing it in protected areas is illegal.”

“That might be hard,” Shiro frowned, “He’s a hybrid of two species from what we can gather, and so I don’t really know his migration route…”

“I’ll figure it out!” Lance exclaimed, “I’m going to have to eviscerate my thesis anyway since a _hybrid_ merperson exists so I might as well try and find out what you need for your investigation,” he beamed.

“That would be very helpful, Lance,” Allura smiled, “I’ll be around more often while we work through this so be sure to keep me updated.”

“I will!” Lance nodded several times with almost too much zeal, “Anything to help you! A-and Keith and Shiro, and the lab of course,” he stammered, pink rising into his cheeks the more he spoke.

“We get it, Lance,” Shiro laughed, “Thanks for your help. Just be careful around Keith, okay?”

“Right! I don’t really wanna get too close to his teeth again,” he laughed sheepishly.

“Would it be alright if I saw the merman?” Allura asked, looking up at Shiro, “It’s not really required for the investigation… I’ve just- never truly seen one up close.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind too much,” Shiro smiled, “As long as you don’t come to close.”

“Oh, of course!” Allura said, “Whatever you deem as appropriate, Shiro!”

“If we’re done here, we can go now,” Shiro suggested, “He’s probably napping.”

Once Allura put her notes away into her bag, Shiro beckoned her to follow him towards the inner areas of the lab. Lance followed after them, giving Allura a few pointers on what certain areas of the la we used for as they walked. When they neared the room where Keith was resting, Shiro paused and turned to face them, “Wait here a moment. I’ll see if he’s awake.”

He walked quietly into the room, nodding at Hunk who was sitting at one of the work stations, “Is he asleep?” he asked softly, approaching Keith’s bedside.

“Think so,” Hunk said, and Shiro confirmed that when he gazed down at Keith’s calm face, his eyes closed peacefully into a nap. The merman needed a lot of sleep given the extent of his injuries so Shiro didn’t really want to wake him. Still, he cupped Keith’s cool cheek in his hand, stroking gently against the soft skin. Keith made a quiet sound in his throat, leaning into the hand on his cheek before he went still again, his breath remaining slow and even, a testament to his continued sleep.

“I won’t wake him,” Shiro murmured, “Allura wanted to meet him, but I guess she can look for now and introduce herself later.” He walked back to where he had left Allura and Lance, beckoning them inside, “He’s asleep right now, but you can look at least,” he said, “I’m sure you can meet him when he’s awake another time. He’ll be here for a while after all.”

“It’s- it’s alright,” Allura said, a little breathless, “Just getting to see him is enough… He looks so- so _human_. I didn’t think he’d look like that.”

“He’s definitely unique,” Shiro nodded, “I honestly don’t know if there’s anyone else like him out there… We’ve never heard of merfolk crossing speciation lines to dwell together, but then again, here’s Keith.”

“Thank you for letting me see him,” Allura smiled, her gratitude shining in her gaze, “I’ll be back tomorrow with some liability paperwork for you, Lance, and some other things to go over for our investigation.”

“Great!” Lance said a little too enthusiastically about something as trivial as paperwork, but Shiro could see the pink rising to his cheeks again even as Allura gave him a curious look, “I’ll walk you out! If you want that is...”

“That would be nice. Thank you, Lance,” Allura nodded, and Shiro watched as the two of them left the medical area, leaving him alone with Keith once more.

Shiro knew he still had some work to do, but he couldn’t help but stay at Keith’s side for a while longer, even if the merman as fast asleep. He fussed over him a bit, changing out the blanket from earlier that had become damp from Keith’s time in the pool.

Casting one last look over his shoulder, Shiro headed back to his office to look over some of the paperwork Allura had dropped off. It was dull work, all logistics and legalese typed in font that was way too tiny for Shiro’s tired eyes.

Apparently it was enough to put him to sleep and the next time he woke up it was to Hunk shaking his shoulder.

“You got drool on those papers,” Hunk said as he shot up from his desk, wiping at the corner of his mouth as he blinked blearily up at the other man, “They look kinda important.”

“Ugh, yeah, they are,” Shiro groaned, clearing his throat from sleep, “I just wanted to get them done before Keith woke up. Guess the dryness of legal terms got to me.”

“Well, he’s awake,” Lance piped up from the doorway.

“What?” Shiro gasped, pushing his chair away from his desk, “I should go-”

“Home,” Hunk said firmly, “You should go home, Shiro… Seriously, you haven’t slept a night in days. All your houseplants are probably dead.”

“I don’t have house plants,” Shiro grumbled, “And I need to be here. I need to go see Keith.”

“Already took care of it, boss,” Lance shrugged, “Hunk checked over him, changing his dressings, gave him some food. He’s fine and resting. I’m sure he’ll sleep the night without you there.”

“But if something happens,” Shiro stressed, “I should be here. I can’t just leave the lab empty.”

“I’ll stay,” Lance shrugged, “if it means that much to you.”

“Nothing is going to happen though,” Hunk assured him with a warm hand squeezing around his shoulder, “His vitals have been stable all day. He’s not in pain. His fever is gone, and the infections in his lungs and wounds are under control. He’s fine because he’s got you to look after him, but you really need to take a night to go home and _sleep_.”

“If you’ll stay,” Shiro finally sighed, raising his gaze to regard Lance firmly, “And you have to stay with him all night, understand? In case anything happens…”

“I looked after my sister’s cats once,” Lance said with a shrug, “I’ll sure I’ll be fine… Okay, bad example,” he winced after receiving the glare Shiro sent him, “But we’ll be fine… And if anything goes wrong, just keep your phone on. You live like a mile down the beach anyway, Shiro.”

It was clear to him that Hunk and Lance wouldn’t be letting this go, and Shiro knew he was running out of room to argue. Besides, sleeping in his bed for a whole night sounded more attractive of an option than it should. Something inside him pulled to stay in the lab nonetheless, and he knew it was because of the way Keith looked at him; the way his violet eyes held such regard and trust for him had wormed into Shiro’s heart easier than he thought possible, but Keith would still be there in the morning.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he finally sighed, “I’ll see you in the morning then. Early. I’m just going to go tell Keith I’ll be back in the morning.”

He left his office, walking down to the medical bay to find Keith dozing lightly in his bed. The merman blinked his eyes open when he heard someone else in the room, and Shiro could have sworn he saw his gaze brighten when Keith saw that it was him.

“Hey Keith,” he greeted softly as he settled into a chair at his bedside, “Feeling okay? You slept for a while earlier.” Keith hummed out an agreeable sound, which made him smile despite his own tiredness, “I’m going to head home for the night. Lance is going to be in the lab tonight in case you need anything… I just- need to go home and get some rest. I’ll be back in the morning, okay?”

Keith blinked at him for a long moment before understanding came into his gaze and he nodded. Slowly, he reached out towards him, his thumb stroking gently over what Shiro knew were dark circles under his eyes, “Shiro,” he murmured, “Need… Need- _rest_ …?”

“Yeah,” Shiro laughed softly, “Sleep would be nice…”

“ _Sleep_ ,” Keith nodded, giving him a stern look, “Shiro sleep. P-prom- Um… _prom-ise?_ ”

“I’ll get some sleep. I promise,” Shiro nodded, beaming down at the merman despite his exhaustion. Hearing Keith even speaking a few human words stirred up so much wonder and pride in his chest. The merman’s pronunciation was shaky, but his willingness to communicate with him warmed him from the inside out, “Like I said, Lance will be here with you. And I only live a little way down the road, so if you need me just tell Lance and he’ll call me.”

Keith crooned quietly in response, the sound vibrating from his throat as his fingers trailed down Shiro’s cheek before he pulled his hand away quickly, nuzzling his cheek into his pillow.

“Alright,” Shiro got to his feet, smiling down at the merman, “I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll bring some fresh fish, too.”

It took him a moment to turn away from Keith, but he finally headed out of the bay. After a quick stop in his office to collect his stuff, he headed for the door, finding Lance waiting there for him, “If anything goes wrong-”

“I’ll call you, Shiro. Don’t worry,” Lance finished his sentence for him, “Get some rest, eat some take-out, water your houseplants.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Shiro rolled his eyes with a laugh, “Have a good night, Lance.”

The walk home felt strange considering he had basically been living in the lab for a week, but the fresh air was calming as he walked along the sidewalk that looked out over the sandy beach.

The cool ocean air washed over him as he stopped walking about halfway home, staring out at the sun dying over the horizon. He had found Keith there, only a little way down the beach, crying out for help. The ocean was massive and filled with the unknown, less traversed than even the surface of the moon, and he wondering briefly if Keith would ever be able to find his way home back to whoever he called family.

It was too grim a thought and he shook the idea away. Even if he had to take Keith out to sea himself, he would help him go back to his normal whatever it took.

By the time he got home, night had fallen, and he let himself into his quiet home for the first time in a while. After dinner and a shower, he sat out on the balcony outside of his bedroom that looked over his small pool that led out to the ocean. He would normally enjoy his time alone to relax at him, but even as he tried to read a bit before going to bed, he found his thoughts straying back to Keith.

There was no use staying up worrying about the merman. The sooner he slept and woke up to a new day, the sooner he’d be back where he belonged in his lab at Keith’s side. With that resolve in his heart, he turned the light off and fell asleep a lot faster than he though possible with his thoughts clouding his mind.

* * *

 

Shiro woke up to the shrill sound of police sirens speeding past his house.

It was only past four in the morning and half his brain wanted him to give into his grogginess and go back to sleep, but he paused after a long moment. There were hardly ever any police presence in the area. The town was quiet and relatively free from crime, and petty theft was never something that would merit so much alarm.

They were heading in the direction of the lab.

Shiro bolted up in bed at the realization, nearly falling out as he scrambled to turn the light on and grab some clothes. He managed to put on some sweatpants and a tank before he ran from the house, grabbing his car keys in the process.

He drove somewhat erratically on the short drive to the lab, his thoughts racing as he nearly blew through a red light.

What could be happening? Was Keith hurt? Did something happen in the engineering part of the lab? Was there an accident? He couldn’t even fathom what could be happening, but he knew one thing for sure.

Keith was probably _terrified_. If not by what was happening inside the lab, then definitely by the sirens outside.

_I’m coming, Keith._

_Hold on._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> **Leave a comment down below!!!** They really really really help with inspiration for writing the next chapter.
> 
> Please go look at [ this art ](https://twitter.com/HeyZambie/status/1102651999760322560) for this fic from my amazing friend Andy :3c 
> 
> You can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com) Come talk to me if you want!

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me [on twitter @leokuumi](https://twitter.com/leokuumi) and [on tumblr @carbonbop](http://carbonbop.tumblr.com)! I love Sheith and talking about Sheith and crying about Sheith so please come find me if you want!


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